DRI Calculator

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are the official daily nutrient values for healthy people, set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)⁹. They are not worked out from your own body. Each value is set for a life-stage group, so the calculator finds your group and shows every value published for it.

What DRIs Measure

DRIs are a family of reference values, and each one answers a different question³:

• RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance): the daily amount that meets the needs of nearly all (97% to 98%) healthy people in the group.

• AI (Adequate Intake): used when there is not enough evidence to set an RDA. It is assumed to be enough.

• EAR (Estimated Average Requirement): meets the needs of half the healthy people in the group. It is mainly used to judge the diets of groups.

• UL (Tolerable Upper Intake Level): the most you can take each day that is unlikely to cause harm. It is a ceiling, not a target.

The tables also include ranges for carbs, protein and fat as a share of calories (AMDR), a sodium value linked to lower chronic disease risk (CDRR), and an energy estimate (EER)¹ ². DRIs do not tell you whether you are low in a nutrient. That takes a look at what you eat and, for some nutrients, a blood test.

The Formula

Your DRI = the published value for your life-stage group (age, sex, pregnancy or breastfeeding)

Grams from an AMDR = calories x percent / 100 / 4 for carbs and protein, or / 9 for fat

Example EER, women 19 and older, low active: 575.77 - (7.01 x age) + (6.60 x height in cm) + (12.14 x weight in kg)

The values come from the NASEM DRI summary tables in their current version (published with the 2019 sodium and potassium report), and the energy equations come from the 2023 NASEM energy report¹ ².

How This Calculator Computes Your Result

Enter your age and sex. Women aged 14 to 50 can also choose pregnant or breastfeeding. For babies under 1, enter months: 0 to 5 months uses the first infant group and 6 to 11 months the second, following the NASEM table footnote for infant calcium¹.

The result lists your RDA or AI, the EAR and the UL for 14 vitamins and 15 minerals, plus water, fiber, protein, carbohydrate and the two essential fats. Values are shown exactly as published, in official units (vitamin A in mcg RAE, folate in mcg DFE, niacin in mg NE), and vitamin D also in IU (1 mcg = 40 IU)¹.

If you add height, weight and activity level, the tool also estimates your daily calories with the 2023 equation for your age, sex and life stage, rounded to the nearest 10 kcal. It then turns the AMDR percentages into grams. Pregnancy after week 12 also needs your weight before pregnancy².

For example, a 30-year-old woman who is 165 cm, 60 kg and low active gets about 2,180 kcal a day. Her carbohydrate range is 246 to 355 g, protein 55 to 191 g and fat 49 to 85 g.

What Your Result Means

Here are the values for adults aged 31 to 50, per day¹. The upper limit column shows the adult UL and what it covers. "AI" marks an Adequate Intake; the rest are RDAs.

At ages 19 to 30 the only change is magnesium: 400 mg for men, 310 mg for women, 350 mg in pregnancy and 310 mg when breastfeeding¹. The UL for phosphorus drops to 3,500 mg during pregnancy¹.

To read your result, compare what you usually eat over several days with your RDA or AI. Being a little under the RDA does not mean you are deficient, because the RDA is set to cover people with higher needs³. Staying under the UL matters most when you take supplements. "None set" or "ND" means NASEM could not set a value from the data, not that any amount is safe¹ ⁵.

Why Some Upper Limits Apply Only to Supplements

Most ULs count food, drinks and supplements together¹. Five cover only one form of the nutrient:

• Magnesium: the 350 mg adult UL covers supplements and medicines only, not food. High doses from these can cause diarrhea, nausea and cramps³.

• Folate: the 1,000 mcg adult UL is for folic acid from supplements and fortified foods. Food folate has no UL. Large amounts of folic acid can hide the anemia of vitamin B12 deficiency while nerve damage goes on⁴.

• Niacin: the 35 mg adult UL is for added niacin from supplements and fortified foods, and it is based on skin flushing. Niacin found naturally in food has not caused harm⁵ ⁶.

• Vitamin A: the UL counts preformed vitamin A (retinol) only. Beta-carotene from plants does not count toward it⁵.

• Vitamin E: the UL is for vitamin E from supplements and fortified foods⁵.

So a person who eats 500 mg of magnesium from food is not over the UL. A person who takes a 400 mg magnesium supplement is.

What the Newer Sodium, Potassium and Energy Reports Changed

The 2019 report set AIs for sodium and potassium but no UL for either¹. For sodium it added the CDRR instead: for adults, intake above 2,300 mg a day should be reduced to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure¹ ⁷. The evidence was rated high for intakes between 2,300 and 4,100 mg a day, and the report says a 1,000 mg a day cut is expected to reduce chronic disease risk⁷. No CDRR was set for potassium¹. To check your own sodium total, use our Sodium Intake Calculator.

The 2023 energy report replaced the older calorie equations with new ones for each age, sex, activity level and life stage, including pregnancy and breastfeeding². It gives the typical error of each equation: about 339 kcal for men and 246 kcal for women². It also states that no valid tool yet exists to place a person in the right activity level, and that watching body weight over time shows whether intake matches needs² ⁸. For a calorie target for weight loss or gain, use our Calorie Calculator instead.