The Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are a comprehensive set of reference values that indicate recommended daily intakes for vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients for healthy populations. The DRIs have been established by American and Canadian scientists through a review process overseen by the US National Academies, which is an independent, nongovernmental body, and they reflect the current state of scientific knowledge with respect to nutrient requirements. They can be used for assessing and planning diets.
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is the average daily dietary intake of a nutrient that is sufficient to meet the requirement of most (97 to 98 percent) healthy persons. This number can be used as a goal for individuals and is likely to exceed the recommended intake for most people within that age or gender group. In the following tables, RDAs are shown in bold type.
Adequate Intake (AI) is the intake level suggested when an RDA cannot be determined due to insufficient data. The AI is more of a good guess or estimate of the amount needed to promote health. In the tables, these are shown in regular rather than bold type.
These and Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) are available through the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies online at iom.edu/Activities/Nutrition/SummaryDRIs/~/media/Files/Activity%20Files/Nutrition/DRIs/New%20Material/5DRI%20Values%20SummaryTables%2014.pdf or by scanning the QR code below. Alternate measures sometimes used (such as international units, or IU) can also be found at this website. For additional details and reports, see the website iom.edu. The UL is the highest daily intake of a nutrient, consumed on a continuing basis, that is considered safe; in other words, likely to pose no risks of adverse health effects for most individuals.
For further details on vitamins and essential minerals, see chapters 6 and 7 and the websites:
lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins.html
lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/minerals.html.
US National Academies DRIs
TABLE A.1. Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamins
Key: g = gram; mcg = microgram; mg = milligram; vit = vitamin
Table A.2. Dietary Reference Intakes for Minerals
Key: g = gram; mcg = microgram; mg = milligram; vit = vitamin