Minerals
Our mineral hub holds 13 pages. Twelve record a daily reference intake, all as EU NRV, from 2000 milligrams of potassium to 50 micrograms of molybdenum. Sodium is the only one for which our database carries no reference value; that page says so in as many words.
Twelve with a reference value and one without
This hub is strikingly uniform in its sources: twelve of the thirteen minerals carry an EU NRV, the labelling value from European regulation. Among the vitamins two EFSA values sit in between; here they do not. The exception is sodium, which carries no reference intake in our database and is recorded as an information field. That is not a field we left blank, and we do not fill it in ourselves either. So the sodium page states plainly that our file holds no reference value.
How to read this table
The figures vary widely, from 2000 milligrams for potassium to 50 micrograms for molybdenum, and here too the units differ: milligrams for most, micrograms for selenium, iodine and molybdenum. So a higher number does not mean a more important mineral. What makes the table usable is that every row links through to a page with the fifteen richest sources from our nutrition database, each with the content per 100 grams. That is the information a choice can be made on: which products actually deliver this, and in what quantity. What we look at in coaching programmes is how those lists connect. One swap often moves three rows at once: in our database wholemeal bread sits at 82 milligrams of magnesium, 2.3 milligrams of manganese and 212 milligrams of phosphorus per 100 grams, and white bread at 23, 0.5 and 98. With rice the gap is larger still, at 143 against 25 milligrams of magnesium for brown and basmati rice. That is not a statement about health but an observation about where those figures sit: largely in the layer removed during refining.
Where these figures come from
The reference values and their source labels come from the DCRAFT nutrition database; the contents per food come from the same database. Chromium, fluoride and sulphur appear in the mineral list but have no page of their own, because there is no column for them in our food file. A page about where sulphur is found with not one food beneath it would be an empty page.
Frequently asked questions
Which minerals do you cover?
13: calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, chloride, phosphorus, iron, zinc, selenium, iodine, copper, manganese and molybdenum. Chromium, fluoride and sulphur are missing because those columns are not in our nutrition database.
Why does sodium have no reference value?
Because our database carries none: sodium is recorded there as an information field, with no daily value. We do not fill such a figure in ourselves, so that page states plainly that it is missing.
Which mineral has the highest reference intake?
Potassium, at 2000 milligrams a day under the EU NRV. Comparing by number makes little sense, though, because selenium, iodine and molybdenum are measured in micrograms and the rest in milligrams.
Sources
- DCRAFT nutrition database — KILLER COACH ENGINE V2.3 workbook (accessed 26 August 2026)
- EU NRV — Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex XIII (accessed 26 August 2026)
Last updated: .
Written by Dennis, founder of Dcraft Of Fitness.