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RDA

Recommended Dietary Allowance — the daily intake estimated to cover ~97% of healthy adults.

RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) is the daily nutrient intake the IOM / EFSA estimates is enough to prevent deficiency in 97-98% of the healthy population. It's a floor, not an optimum.

Several caveats:

  • RDA is set for "healthy adults" — pregnancy, lactation, and certain medical conditions raise the requirement.
  • It assumes adequate baseline nutrition; if you're already deficient, an RDA-level dose only maintains the deficiency.
  • For some nutrients (vitamin D, omega-3) clinical optimum doses are well above RDA.

EU labels often use "NRV" (Nutrient Reference Value) — same idea, slightly different math. Both are floors.