The Supplement Facts Panel: How to Read It and Build It Right
Every number on your Supplement Facts panel follows a federal rule, and on Amazon every number in your listing has to match it. Here is the panel line by line, with a worked example you can check your own label against.
Short answer
A Supplement Facts panel is the nutrition label FDA requires on dietary supplements under 21 CFR 101.36. It lists the serving size, servings per container, each dietary ingredient's amount per serving, and a percent Daily Value for nutrients that have one. Ingredients with no Daily Value get a symbol, often a dagger, pointing to the footnote "Daily Value not established."
What a Supplement Facts Panel Is and Why It Runs Your Listing
The Supplement Facts panel is the boxed nutrition label on a supplement bottle. FDA requires it on every dietary supplement offered for sale, apart from narrow exemptions, under 21 CFR 101.36. CFR is the Code of Federal Regulations, the official book of federal rules. Section 101.36 sets what goes in the panel, in what order, in what units and how it looks.
This page goes deeper on the panel than our supplement label requirements guide, which covers the whole label. Use that one for the front of the bottle and this one for the panel.
The panel matters even more on Amazon. NutraIngredients reported that Amazon rolled out an updated U.S. supplement policy on March 31, 2026, under which claims in the title, bullets, images or description must match the panel exactly, with automated scanning for mismatches (NutraIngredients, March 2026). The panel is now the document your listing is written from.
How to Read the Panel: Serving Size, Amounts and %DV
Read the panel in the order FDA builds it. Each part answers one question, and each part has a rule behind it that a buyer, a lab or an Amazon reviewer can check.
Serving Size
The heading must say "Serving Size" and the unit fits the form, such as tablets, capsules, packets or scoops (101.36(b)(1)(i)). The serving is the most your label tells someone to take at one time, per 21 CFR 101.12(b). If the directions say 1 to 3 tablets, the serving is 3 tablets.
Servings Per Container
Goes directly under Serving Size, unless the net quantity statement on the front already says it (101.36(b)(1)(ii)). A 60-capsule bottle with a 2-capsule serving has 30 servings.
Amount Per Serving
The heading over the amounts. You may use wording that matches the serving, such as "Amount Per 2 Capsules" (101.36(b)(2)(i)(A)). Each amount is the weight of the nutrient, not its source: the calcium, not the calcium carbonate (101.36(b)(2)(ii)).
% Daily Value
For each nutrient that has a Daily Value, divide the unrounded amount by the Daily Value and multiply by 100, then round to the nearest whole percent (101.36(b)(2)(iii)(B) and (C)). The heading may also read % DV, Percent Daily Value or Percent DV.
The heavy bar and the dagger
Below a heavy bar come the other dietary ingredients that have no Daily Value, such as most herbs, amino acids and creatine. Each gets a symbol in the %DV column that points to a footnote reading "Daily Value not established" (101.36(b)(3)(iv)). The rule says a symbol, for example an asterisk. FDA's own sample labels use a dagger for this footnote when the asterisk is already in use for the calorie footnote.
Footnotes
If the panel declares a %DV for total fat, saturated fat, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, protein or added sugars, you also need the footnote "Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet" (101.36(b)(2)(iii)(D)). Gummies and powders can trigger it, because they often carry sugar or carbohydrate. Most capsules do not.
Which nutrients must appear? Under 101.36(b)(2)(i), calories, fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrate, fiber, sugars, protein, vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium are listed whenever present above the amount that rounds to zero. FDA's labeling guide adds that other vitamins and minerals are declared when added for supplementation or when the label makes a claim about them. Vitamins and minerals below 2 percent of their Daily Value are left off. FDA's Daily Value page lists every Daily Value in one table.
Vitamins and minerals run in a fixed order set by 101.36(b)(2)(i)(B), starting with vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K, then the B vitamins, then minerals from calcium and iron through potassium and fluoride. Vitamin D must be declared in micrograms; IU is optional and goes in parentheses after the microgram amount (101.36(b)(2)(ii)(B)).
A Worked Example Panel, Line by Line
Here is a panel for a made-up capsule product we will call a magnesium and ashwagandha formula. The directions say "Take 2 capsules daily," and the bottle holds 60 capsules. Read it top to bottom as it would print inside the hairline box, then check the math notes underneath.
Notice what is not in the panel. There is no calorie line, because we assume two capsules carry under 5 calories, which 101.9(c)(1) lets you express as zero, and a supplement panel does not list zeros. There is no 2,000 calorie footnote, because no %DV is declared for fat, carbohydrate, fiber, protein or added sugars. Switch to a gummy and both usually come back, along with total sugars and added sugars.
Daily Values come from the table in 21 CFR 101.9(c)(8)(iv). Common ones for adults and children 4 and older: vitamin C 90 mg, vitamin D 20 mcg, calcium 1,300 mg, iron 18 mg, magnesium 420 mg, zinc 11 mg. Products labeled for young children or for pregnant or lactating women use that group's values, and the %DV heading must name the group (101.36(b)(2)(iii)(E)).
Proprietary Blends and Source Ingredients
Two features exist only on Supplement Facts panels, and both are common places for a listing to drift away from the label.
Proprietary blends
A blend is named with the term "Proprietary Blend" or another descriptive or fanciful name, with one total weight on the same line. That total covers only the other dietary ingredients in it. Those ingredients are indented underneath in descending order by weight, and the blend carries the Daily Value symbol (101.36(c)(2) and (c)(3)). FDA's sample shows a 0.7 g blend of German chamomile (flower) and hyssop (leaf).
Vitamins and minerals cannot hide in a blend
Any nutrient with a Daily Value inside a blend still gets its own amount and %DV, declared the normal way (101.36(c)(1)).
Blends and your Amazon listing
If the panel shows only a blend total, the listing cannot state an amount for one ingredient inside it. Amazon's policy requires ingredient weights in the listing to match the panel. Our Amazon supplement policy guide covers that rule.
Source ingredients
You may name the source in parentheses after the nutrient, preceded by "as" or "from," for example Calcium (as calcium carbonate). If two or more sources supply one nutrient, list all of them in descending order by weight (101.36(d)(2)). A source named in the panel does not need to repeat in the ingredient list (101.36(d)).
Formatting Rules Your Designer Has to Follow
Most panel errors on new labels are layout errors, not math errors. Hand this table to whoever builds the artwork.
How to Build a Supplement Facts Panel in 8 Steps
Get the final formula in writing
Ask your manufacturer for each dietary ingredient, its source form, and its amount per unit. For minerals, ask for the elemental amount, since that is the number that prints. Our guide to vetting a supplement manufacturer covers what else to request.
Set the directions, then the serving size
Write the directions first. The serving size is the most the directions tell someone to take at one time.
Sort ingredients into two groups
Group one: nutrients with a Daily Value, in the order 101.36 sets. Group two: everything else, such as botanicals and amino acids. Decide now whether any group-two ingredients will sit in a proprietary blend.
Calculate each %DV
Divide the unrounded amount by the Daily Value in 21 CFR 101.9(c)(8)(iv), multiply by 100 and round to the nearest whole percent. Drop any vitamin or mineral below 2 percent of its Daily Value. Check every result twice.
Add symbols and footnotes
Put a symbol next to each group-two ingredient and blend, with the "Daily Value not established" footnote. Add the 2,000 calorie footnote only if a %DV appears for fat, carbohydrate, fiber, protein or added sugars.
Lay it out to the format rules
Build the box, bars and hairlines, then check type sizes against the label area you actually have. Measure on a printed proof, not a screen.
Write the ingredient list below it
List every non-dietary ingredient by descending weight, including capsule shell, fillers and flavors, headed "Other ingredients" if sources are already named inside the panel.
Write the listing from the panel
Copy names, amounts and serving size from the panel into your title, bullets and images word for word, then photograph the printed label for Amazon.
Common Supplement Facts Mistakes and How to Catch Them
Serving size smaller than the directions
In a January 2026 warning letter, FDA said a capsule product was misbranded because the directions said 1 to 2 capsules once daily while the serving size listed 1 capsule. FDA said it should have been 2 (FDA warning letter, January 2026).
Source weight instead of nutrient weight
A panel that prints 1,000 mg, the weight of the magnesium glycinate, when the elemental magnesium is far less. The rule wants the nutrient's weight (101.36(b)(2)(ii)).
Missing plant part
"Ashwagandha extract" alone is incomplete. FDA's labeling guide says the panel must name the part of the plant, such as root.
A listing that says more than the panel
A title that turns a 300 mg extract into a large raw-herb equivalent, or a bullet that gives an amount for one ingredient inside a blend. Amazon's policy treats these as mismatches.
A quick self-check: cover the panel, read only your Amazon title and bullets, and write down every ingredient amount they promise. Then uncover the panel. Every number you wrote should be printed there, in the same unit, for the same serving.
When to Get Help and When to Do It Yourself
Do it yourself if your formula is simple, your manufacturer hands you a draft panel, and you have time to check it against this page. Your job is to check the math, the serving size and the listing match.
Talk to a regulatory attorney if you use an ingredient that may be a new dietary ingredient, sell a product for children or pregnant women, or plan to sell outside the U.S.
Get design and listing help if the panel is right but the label does not fit the bottle, or your listing and images do not match the panel. That is where Evolve fits. Label and packaging design is quoted per project or done inside brand management hours. Listing images and Premium A+ run $295, $495 or $595 through graphic design, and a listing rewrite built from your panel is $495 through listing optimization.
Monthly plans run from Brand Support at 5 hours for $750 to Brand Manager at 10 hours for $1,250, Brand Manager Plus at 20 hours for $2,000 and Full Brand Management at 40 hours for $3,600, paid upfront and month to month. See brand management for supplement brands. To have us check a draft panel against your listing, email Ian at [email protected] or call or text 719-257-3557.
Where These Facts Come From
eCFR: 21 CFR 101.36, Nutrition labeling of dietary supplements
ecfr.gov · Open source →
eCFR: 21 CFR 101.9, Nutrition labeling of food (Daily Values and compliance testing)
ecfr.gov · Open source →
eCFR: 21 CFR 101.12, Reference amounts customarily consumed
ecfr.gov · Open source →
FDA: Dietary Supplement Labeling Guide, Chapter IV, Nutrition Labeling
fda.gov · Open source →
FDA: Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels
fda.gov · Open source →
FDA: Warning letter to a supplement firm, January 9, 2026
fda.gov · Open source →
NutraIngredients: Amazon's new supplement policy could trigger delistings (March 13, 2026)
nutraingredients.com · Open source →
About the Author
Ian Smith
Founder, Evolve Media Agency
Ian has run Evolve Media Agency since 2017 and has sold on Amazon since 2015. He and Megan run brand management, launches, PPC and in-house photo and video for Amazon, Shopify and TikTok Shop brands, including supplement brands, from Colorado. Questions about this page go straight to him at [email protected].
Common Questions
What is the difference between Supplement Facts and Nutrition Facts?
What does the dagger symbol mean on a supplement label?
How is serving size set on a supplement?
How do you calculate %DV on a Supplement Facts panel?
Is a proprietary blend legal on a supplement label?
Does my Amazon listing have to match the Supplement Facts panel?
Can Evolve build my Supplement Facts panel and listing?
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