TY - JOUR AU - Lyhne Andersen , Niels AU - Tetens , Inge PY - 2009/10/05 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - How to reach a common estimate of high dietary micronutrient intakes for safe addition of vitamins and minerals to foods? JF - Food & Nutrition Research JA - fnr VL - 53 IS - 0 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.3402/fnr.v53i0.1898 UR - https://foodandnutritionresearch.net/index.php/fnr/article/view/1120 SP - AB - Background: A central element in establishing maximum amount of micronutrients in fortified foods andsupplements is to reach to an agreement on how to estimate high intakes of vitamins and minerals from theEuropean diet.Objective: To examine whether ratios between the 95th percentile and mean intakes of vitamins and mineralsshow similarities across different countries independent of dietary habits and survey methods and if so, tosuggest a simple and pragmatic way to calculate common estimates of high micronutrient intakes from foods.Design: Intake data of selected vitamins and minerals from nine European countries were examined for adultfemales and males and for children aged 410 and 1117 years. The ratios between the 95th percentile andmean intakes were calculated for each micronutrient, country, and age group.Results: The ratios for each micronutrient follow a fairly regular pattern across countries and survey methodswith differences between age groups.The nutrients fall into three categories: nutrients with ratios between 1.45 and 1.58 - energy, magnesium,phosphorus, zinc, iron, vitamin B<sub>6</sub>, niacin, and folate; nutrients with ratios between 1.67 and 1.79 - calcium,selenium, vitamin E, iodine, and copper; nutrients with ratios between 2.08 and 2.32 - vitamin A, vitamin D,and retinol.Conclusion: Sufficiently precise estimates of high micronutrient intakes across European countries can bereached by multiplying the overall average of ratios (P95/mean intakes) for each micronutrient with thecorresponding mean intakes from all available dietary surveys in Europe. This approach is a simple andpragmatic way to create common European estimates of high micronutrient intakes from foods. ER -