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.