What each nutrient does, which foods carry it per measured spoonful, what running short does, and what the reference numbers are built on.
File photo: spices, seeds and nuts at a market in Darjeeling, India. Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. In the news · July 2026 A meta-analysis pooled 78 randomized trials with 5,226 participants. Magnesium supplements produced small changes, such as systolic blood pressure down 2.5 mmHg and fasting glucose down 3.6 mg/dL,…
File photo: crystals of iron(II) sulfate heptahydrate, a compound used in iron supplements. Photo: Benjah-bmm27, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. In the news · July 2026 A prospective, non-randomised study at a Mexican hospital followed 171 women with iron deficiency anaemia taking iron daily or every other day. Both schedules improved haemoglobin over three months,…
Calcium per measured tablespoon, why absorption falls as the dose rises, and why 59 trials found a one per cent bone density gain that appears in year one and then stops.
Riboflavin per measured tablespoon, why deficiency almost never occurs alone, and what four hundred milligrams a day did in the migraine trials.
Thiamin per measured tablespoon, the milling step that turned beriberi into an epidemic, and why the Food and Nutrition Board set no upper limit at all.
There is no vitamin D1. There are two forms, the label treats them as interchangeable, and the randomised comparisons put D3 ahead by about 15 nmol/L — with most of the gap in a dosing schedule almost nobody uses.
Vitamin C per measured tablespoon, what a deliberate depletion showed about scurvy, and why the dose-response curve flattens long before the tablet does.
Vitamin D per measured tablespoon, why the food table misses most of the supply, and why three large trials found nothing where a smaller one cut hip fractures by 43 per cent.
How much vitamin A a tablespoon of liver, cod liver oil or sweet potato actually carries — what deficiency does, and why the 3,000 microgram upper limit matters.
Macronutrients, micronutrients and the thirteen vitamins — plus what EAR, RDA, AI and UL actually mean, and why an intake below the RDA is not a deficiency.
