Guideline Daily Amount
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Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) are designed to help consumers make sense of the nutrition information provided on food labels. They translate science into consumer friendly information, providing guidelines on pack that help consumers put the nutrition information they read on a food label into the context of their overall diet.
GDAs are guidelines for healthy adults and children about the approximate amount of calories, fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, total sugars, protein, fibre, salt and sodium required for a healthy diet.
Because people vary in many ways, such as size and activity levels, GDAs cannot be used as targets for individuals. They simply provide a benchmark against which the contribution from macronutrients, fibre, salt and sodium per serving of a food product can be roughly assessed. GDAs are different from Dietary Reference Values (a term used used in the UK's Department of Health report called: 'Dietary Reference Values for Food Energy and Nutrients for the United Kingdom' published in 1991).
It is acknowledged that it is very difficult, if not impossible, for an individual to achieve the GDAs for all nutrients in any one day. This is not the purpose of providing this information. The aim is to provide a guide for consumers to assist them in making appropriate dietary choices. For example, they can use them as a basis against which to judge the contribution of fat made by a particular food product to their diet.
Qualitative and quantitative consumer research[1] was conducted by the Institute of Grocery Distribution in 1998 to inform the development of the term Guideline Daily Amount.
GDAs are now in widespread use across the food industry and appear both on the front and back of food packaging. (Source: Institute of Grocery Distribution.)
