What are the vitamin needs of adults and children?

Let's quickly recall again, there are two main categories of nutrients. On the one hand, there are macronutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates and fats which are needed in large quantities (grams) and micronutrients which are counted in milligrams or micrograms. Let's say that the second category is essential to the first, a finding often noted to the detriment of the health of deficient people. Vitamins, minerals, trace elements and other antioxidants of plant origin are just as essential to the health of the individual as carbohydrates or proteins. The question remains in what proportion micronutrients should be provided to the body. Realistically, what would your vitamin and mineral needs be?

Indeed, nutritional needs in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants vary widely depending on an individual's age, physical activity, sports practice, or, conversely, sedentary lifestyle. Under these conditions, how can we determine the nutritional needs in micronutrients in adults or children? This is precisely the subject of this article...

How to determine an individual's nutritional needs in vitamins and minerals?

While nutritional needs for vitamins, minerals, trace elements and antioxidants vary throughout life, there is, by definition, no truly quantifiable need for antioxidants of plant origin, while vitamin antioxidants are just as unlikely to meet the requirements of a truly scientifically verifiable standard. For example, health authorities consider that 80 mg of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) meets the daily nutritional needs of an adult. However, much greater nutritional intake is provided by a diet rich in fruits and vegetables or through food supplements .

In reality, and even if medical science has something to say on the subject, it is objectively impossible to evaluate the cellular or organic interactions between free radicals and antioxidants at a given time in an average person. This is due as much to these interactions which protect the organism as to the multiple metabolisms associated with vitamins and minerals, zinc, magnesium , phosphorus, etc.

What are the bases on which health authorities determine nutritional requirements for micronutrients?

Health authorities establish standards based on several criteria. These standards aim to establish criteria for nutritional acceptability, taking into account both a vital minimum and determining an average, rather than providing a maximum value for a nutrient. This is how the RDAs for Recommended Daily Intakes are determined, now referred to by the acronym NRV or Recommended Nutritional Values. These are therefore recommended nutritional values, which, in most cases, do not constitute truly significant information for the average consumer. This is even less so since some micronutrients are harmless in high doses (for example, vitamin C) while others (such as vitamin A or D) can be harmful or even toxic in high doses. The negative effects linked to an overdose are different for each micronutrient considered. For example, for magnesium , an overdose could lead to digestive problems.

The NRVs or Recommended Nutritional Values ​​do not constitute limits not to be exceeded.

These values ​​are, at best, only indicative of the minimum nutritional intake of micronutrients, vitamins, minerals and trace elements. For example, if you take a protein bar containing 100% of the daily intake of vitamin B6, this does not mean that taking more during the day risks causing you harm in terms of health. 100% of the NRVs rather means that the nutritional intake observed in vitamin B6 corresponds to the daily needs of an average sedentary organism. Here, too, it is important to remember that a sedentary person has lower micronutrient needs than an athlete, especially if they practice intense training. Furthermore, these same values ​​can be significant for certain vitamin forms and not significant for others. This is the case, for example, for vitamin B12 in the form of cyanocobalamin, for which the NRVs are significant. In contrast, the natural form of this vitamin, methylcobalamin, has no specific limitations.

How should NRVs on vitamin requirements and other official nutritional indications be interpreted?

In fact, it is better to consider the NRVs as an indicative value, given what we mentioned above about certain vitamins for example. Indeed, the NRVs were established based on average nutritional requirements (AN), which correspond to a statistical value excluding deficiencies. The concepts of nutritional reference for the population (RNP) and satisfactory intake (AI) were also taken into account in the calculation of the NRV. Again, these are average and subjective nutritional statistical values ​​for some of them. However, we must remain aware that statistics and medically proven biological reality are two very different things. Taking another example, that of vitamin D , let us say that the NRVs appear more and more clearly as insufficient in light of advances in scientific research and this, almost unanimously according to researchers. Thus, science has highlighted the importance of this vitamin for the longevity of human beings, as well as for muscular strength.

Vitamin D is the best example of a micronutrient whose daily requirements are the most complex to establish…

We now know that vitamin D acts as an indirect regulator of phosphocreatine /ATP yield, as well as other biological mechanisms related to cellular energy exchange. Therefore, for most individuals, an intake of 200 to 400 IU of vitamin D3 does not correspond to the recommendations determined by clinical research. But on the other hand, an intake above 10,000 IU could prove problematic for some people, and in certain specific cases. However, the ratio between vitamin D and vitamin K is also part of the equation. You will therefore easily understand that it is not enough to determine a vitamin value to state a truth that can be transposed to all individuals, given the complexity of the human body and its metabolisms. Currently, scientific research tends to challenge the notion of vitamin D overdose.

Similarly, athletes will not have the same vitamin or antioxidant needs as sedentary people. Sports activity, especially when it is intense (weight training, bodybuilding , cross training, etc.), leads to a much higher consumption of antioxidants, the presence of free radicals being naturally higher, due to exercise and the acceleration of metabolism. You can therefore understand that establishing credible recommendations in terms of micronutrients is particularly complex. In any case, we can give you the figures corresponding to the current recommendations, both for adults and children, as below:

VNR in adults and children aged 11 to 14 years

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