Vitamins and minerals are essential to your physical health -- if you do not get enough of a certain vitamin or mineral, you may develop a deficiency-related disease. For example, scurvy is associated with vitamin C deficiency, rickets with vitamin D deficiency, and the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis is associated with calcium deficiency. Most people can get sufficient vitamins and minerals from their diets; however, inexpensive dietary supplements are available if your dietary intake of any vitamin or mineral is insufficient. Consult your doctor before making significant dietary changes.
Step 1
Calculate the quantity of each vitamin you need daily. The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has established Reference Daily Intake, RDI, values for vitamins and minerals to assist with food labeling. As of 2011, RDI values included 5,000 IU of vitamin A, 60 mg of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin D, 30 IU of vitamin E, 80 mcg of vitamin K, 1.5 mg of thiamine, 1.7 mg of riboflavin, 20 mg of niacin, 2 mg of vitamin B-6, 400 mcg of folate and 6 mcg of vitamin B-12.
Step 2
Calculate your daily mineral needs. FDA reference daily intakes include 1,000 mg of calcium, 1,000 mg of phosphorus, 18 mg of iron, 150 mcg of iodine, 400 mg of magnesium, 15 mg of zinc, 70 mcg of selenium, 2 mg of copper, 2 mg of manganese, 120 mcg of chromium and 75 mcg of molybdenum.
Step 3
Adjust your daily target intake of individual vitamins and minerals according to your health status and age. For example, women typically require higher amounts of vitamins and minerals during pregnancy. Older adults require higher calcium intake to protect bone health. Consult your doctor for assistance, establishing your target intake levels of each vitamin and mineral.
Step 4
Track the vitamin and mineral content of everything you consume over the course of a week. Sum up your weekly consumption of each vitamin and mineral, then divide each total by seven to calculate your average daily intake of each vitamin and mineral.
Step 5
Compare your average daily intake of each vitamin or mineral to the target daily intake you established in Step 3. Make a list of the vitamins and minerals for which you are not meeting your daily target intake.
Step 6
Add foods to your diet to provide enough of each vitamin and mineral to reach your target intake. For example, if you are not reaching your daily iron intake target, you could add iron-rich foods such as spinach or red meat to your diet.
Step 7
Use vitamin and mineral supplements to make up any further shortfall in your vitamin and mineral intake targets. Your body's absorption of vitamins and minerals from supplements may be lower than absorption from dietary sources.
Tips and Warnings
- Vitamin and mineral quantities are typically measured in milligrams, micrograms or International Units. Certain foods can reduce your body's absorption of vitamins or minerals. For example, calcium absorption is reduced when supplements or dietary sources of calcium are consumed together with spinach, collard greens, seeds, beans, nuts or whole-grain foods.
- The FDA has established safe upper limits for daily intake of each vitamin and mineral. Intake above this level can make you sick.
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