What are the Recommended Daily Allowances for Vitamins and Minerals in a Healthy Diet?

The Institute of Medicine has determined the upper limits for 24 nutrients for adults age 19 and older. To understand how the daily value (DV) and the daily percentage value (%DV) work together, let's take a closer look. The DV is the recommended amount of nutrients that should be consumed or not exceeded each day. %DV is the amount that a nutrient provides in a single serving of an individual packaged food or dietary supplement to your daily diet.

For instance, if the daily value of a given nutrient is 300 micrograms (mcg) and a packaged food or supplement contains 30 mcg in a serving, the %DV of that nutrient in a serving of the product would be 10%. If you ate one serving of the product, you would have met 10% of your needs for that nutrient in one day and could consume other foods or supplements to get the remaining 90%. The number provided is the amount of a vitamin or mineral you must get for good health on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet. The UL (Maximum Tolerable Intake Level) is the maximum amount of daily vitamins and minerals you can safely take without the risk of overdose or serious side effects.

This page summarizes the recommended daily intakes by various experts and health agencies to provide an overview of the recommended daily amounts of all vitamins and minerals. The DRI calculator for health professionals is an interactive tool for calculating daily nutritional recommendations for diet planning based on dietary reference intakes (DRI) established by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. If someone takes just over three times the recommended daily dose of vitamin A, they would get more than the upper limit. Many terms that appear on supplement labels or on supplement websites can help you understand how much vitamin or mineral you should take.

However, they must indicate all vitamins and minerals that are added to foods or if the label on the package contains an indication of their health effects or the amount contained in the food (for example, high or low). As a result, you may need to consume more or less of a certain food, drink, or dietary supplement to meet the recommended values or recommended amounts. It is mandatory to indicate the actual amount and % of the daily value of vitamin D, calcium, iron and potassium on labels. Manufacturers may also voluntarily indicate other vitamins and minerals.

Recommended nutrient intakes vary by age and gender and are known as recommended dietary amounts (RDA) and adequate intakes (IA). The RDA (recommended daily amount) and IA (adequate intake) are the amounts of a vitamin or mineral that are needed to stay healthy and well nourished.