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. 2026 Aug 14;13:1877635. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2026.1877635

Table 2.

Nutrient adequacy relative to the age- and sex-specific reference value.

Nutrient Men median % reference value Men % < 80% reference value a Women median % reference value Women % < 80% reference value a p b
Protein 74.4 57.5 74.6 59.0 0.989
Total fat 77.6 52.5 82.0 48.7 0.290
Carbohydrates 52.4 91.2 58.4 84.5 0.010
Dietary fiber 58.6 75.0 55.6 77.1 0.504
Sodium c 212.3 1.2 183.7 1.5 0.047
Potassium 34.3 98.8 32.9 100.0 0.380
Calcium 33.6 97.5 38.1 97.4 0.266
Magnesium 86.9 42.5 88.5 38.7 0.137
Vitamin A (RE) 41.9 72.5 61.3 60.9 0.009
Vitamin E (TE) 43.7 91.2 38.9 91.1 0.170
Thiamine (B1) 48.1 85.0 49.5 89.7 0.874
Riboflavin (B2) 60.4 78.8 69.8 62.0 0.011
Niacin (NE) 125.2 20.0 119.8 12.2 0.801
Vitamin C 22.3 97.5 30.5 86.7 0.006
Energy (kcal) 64.2 80.0 68.4 69.7 0.035

RE, retinol equivalents. TE, tocopherol equivalents. NE, niacin equivalents. ᵃ Proportion of participants with intake below 80% of the reference value. ᵇ p-values from Mann–Whitney U tests comparing percentage of the reference value between sexes. c Sodium has no recommended daily allowance in the conventional sense. The value shown is expressed against the age-specific physiological requirement applied in this study (1,300 mg/day for ages 60–74 and 1,200 mg/day for ages 75–90), which is lower than, and not equivalent to, the WHO population intake limit of below 2000 mg/day (Section 2.2).