Important Changes to Nutrition Recommendations

Between 2016 and 2019, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced new guidelines that changed the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for several nutrients.

Important Changes for Vitamin D

Among the most important changes was an increase in the RDA for Vitamin D.   No single nutrient is more important and has more important and far reaching influence of many aspects of your physiological function. Without it, your body can’t absorb the calcium you need to keep bones and teeth strong. It also plays a role in immune function, supporting a healthy mood, modulating cell growth and much more.

In 2016, the Food and Nutrition Board increased the RDA of vitamin D for most adults from 400 IU (10 mcg) to 600 IU (15 mcg) per day, and 800 IU (20 mcg) for ages 70+.

Some doctors and nutritionists still recommend higher daily vitamin D intakes, especially for those at risk for having low levels.  The Vitamin D Council, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about vitamin D, recommends average adults supplement with 5,000 IU (125 mcg) of vitamin D daily. Talk with your doctor about your individual needs.

Vitamin D Measurements: Micrograms vs. International Units

In addition, vitamin D amounts must now be listed in micrograms (mcg) on supplement facts and nutrition labels instead of international units (IU). Given that IU was a widely-established and recognized form of measurement for vitamin D, during the transition period companies may include both mcg and IU on product labels for clarity.

If you want to convert vitamin D IU to mcg, simply divide the IU number by 40 to get the equivalent mcg, or to convert mcg to IU, simply multiply the mcg number by 40.

Example:

1,000 IU = 25 mcg, since 1,000 ÷ 40 = 25

20 mcg = 800 IU, since 20 × 40 = 800

Changes to Your Vitamin D Supplement

You may have noticed that the daily value percentage on your usual supplement was suddenly lower, which may have led you to believe the product changed.

Take a closer look at your product label to be sure, but most likely the amount of vitamin D in the product didn’t change at all. The same product simply fulfills a lower percentage of the RDA than it did prior to the change because the RDA is now higher.

Daily Value Changes for Other Nutrients

In addition to the increase in recommended daily amounts of vitamin D mentioned above, the DV for fiber was increased from 25 grams to 28 grams, and the nutrients below have changed for most adults due to updated nutrition science research.

Daily Value Increases

Vitamin C: increased from 60 mg to 90 mg

Vitamin K: increased from 80 mcg to 120 mcg

Magnesium: increased from 400 mg to 420 mg

Manganese: increased from 2 mg to 2.3 mg

Phosphorus: increased from 1,000 mg to 1,250 mg

Potassium: increased from 3,500 mg to 4,700 mg

Calcium: increased from 1,000 mg to 1,300 mg

Daily Value Decreases

Vitamin B-12: decreased from 6 mcg to 2.5 mcg

Vitamin B-6: decreased from 2 mg to 1.7 mg

Biotin: decreased from 300 mcg to 30 mg

Niacin: decreased from 20 mg to 16 mg

Chromium: decreased from 120 mcg to 35 mcg

Chloride: decreased from 3,400 mg to 2,300 mg

Copper: decreased from 2 mg to 0.9 mg

Molybdenum: decreased from 75 mcg to 45 mcg

Zinc: decreased from 15 mg to 11 mg

Thiamin: decreased from 1.5 mg to 1.2 mg

Riboflavin: decreased from 1.7 mg to 1.3 mg

Pantothenic acid: decreased from 10 mg to 5 mg

Newly-Established Daily Value for Choline

Previously, no daily value had been established for choline. Your body produces some choline, but you still require a substantial amount of dietary choline.. Choline is essential for many processes in the body, from cellular structure and messaging to metabolizing fat and promoting nervous system health. It also assists vitamin B12 and folate with functions related to DNA synthesis.  

Perhaps most importantly it is used to produce the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACH).   ACH decreases with age, and decreased ACH levels directly reduce cognitive function.   ACH supports alertness, attention, and learning.  ACH levels are critical for memory, and in Alzheimer's patients ACH levels are lowered.   

The newly-established daily value for choline is 500 mg per day. You can get it from choline supplements or foods including eggs (113 mg of choline per egg), beef liver (290 mg of choline per 2.4 ounces), chicken liver (222 mg of choline per 2.4 ounces), cod (249 mg per 85 grams), and more.

ACH levels are also lowered by many common over the counter anti-histamines taken for allergies and sleep such as Benadryl.  These drugs are directly linked to increased dementia risk for this reason.

Adequate dietary choline intake is particularly challenging for vegetarians and even more so vegans because the best dietary sources of choline are from animal products.   It is very difficult to get the 550 mg RDA of choline from purely plant sources.   For this reason it is worth aging Vegetarians or Vegans consider taking a highly bioavailable choline supplement like Alpha GPC.

Folic Acid Supplement Daily Value

Research shows that 70% more folate is absorbed from folic acid supplements than from foods that contain folate, so folic acid supplement labels will be updated to reflect this finding and better align with the dietary folate equivalent. A supplement providing 400 mcg of folic acid previously would have indicated it fulfills 100% of your DV requirements, however now that same 400 mcg supplement will be labeled as fulfilling 170% of your daily requirement.

Many people have a genetic variant in their MTHFR gene which prevents them from converting dietary folate into its active form.   This can cause big problems with many different physiological systems resulting in disorders ranging from severe depression, anxiety to increase homocysteine levels (a serous issue that greatly increases risk of cardiovascular disease) to bipolar disorder to colon cancer to chronic pain and fatigue.

Bottom line you want to get adequate levels of activated folic acid which is simple and safe by taking an activated folic acid supplement like methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF).

To learn more about the MTHFR polymorphism go here:   https://www.healthline.com/health/mthfr-gene#variants and to learn more  about testing for this and other gene variations and what you can do about them go here:  https://youtu.be/bVV2RFEiqN4