Recommended Intakes

Intake recommendations for vitamin B12 and other nutrients are provided in the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) developed by the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies (formerly National Academy of Sciences) [5]. DRI is the general term for a set of reference values used for planning and assessing nutrient intakes of healthy people. These values, which vary by age and gender [5], include:

• Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA): average daily level of intake sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97%–98%) healthy individuals.
• Adequate Intake (AI): established when evidence is insufficient to develop an RDA and is set at a level assumed to ensure nutritional adequacy.
• Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL): maximum daily intake unlikely to cause adverse health effects [5].

Table 1 lists the current RDAs for vitamin B12 in micrograms (mcg) [5]. For infants aged 0 to 12 months, the FNB established an AI for vitamin B12 that is equivalent to the mean intake of vitamin B12 in healthy, breastfed infants.

Table 1: Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for Vitamin B12 [5]

Age	Male	Female	Pregnancy	Lactation
Birth to 6 months*	0.4 mcg	0.4 mcg
7-12 months*	0.5 mcg	0.5 mcg
1-3 years	0.9 mcg	0.9 mcg
4-8 years	1.2 mcg	1.2 mcg
9-13 years	1.8 mcg	1.8 mcg
14+ years	2.4 mcg	2.4 mcg	2.6 mcg	2.8 mcg

* Adequate Intake