# Recommended Daily Amount vs body size **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-daily-amount-vs-body-size/781704 "2017-03-08T17:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-daily-amount-vs-body-size/781704/1 "2017-03-08T17:34:28Z")
We see this all the time: the US government’s recommended daily intake of “X” should be “Y” milligrams. For instance, for salt it appears to be about 2300 mg. But wouldn’t that scale for body size? I’m a big guy, who weights 200 - 210. Is there some average weight individual these statistics are derived for, and am I/should I scale that to compensate? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-daily-amount-vs-body-size/781704/2 "2017-03-08T17:53:31Z")
> **[What are Dietary Reference Intakes?](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK45182/)** > > The development of DRIs expands on the periodic reports called Recommended Dietary Allowances, which have been published since 1941 by the National Academy of Sciences. It is expected that as additional groups of nutrients and food components are... > [@](#): > > The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is the average daily dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the nutrient requirement of nearly all (97 to 98 percent) healthy individuals in a particular gender and life stage group (life stage considers age and, when applicable, pregnancy or lactation). They do scale, but a single number than covers nearly everyone is easier to communicate. You can do calculations for your particular body type, but as long as the RDA isn’t something that can harm you, consuming excess isn’t much of an issue. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-daily-amount-vs-body-size/781704/3 "2017-03-08T17:56:28Z")
I was thinking more about those things they don’t want you to eat too much of, like salt. Seems like giving one number, not referenced to body mass, is deceptive. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-daily-amount-vs-body-size/781704/4 "2017-03-08T22:59:31Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I was thinking more about those things they don’t want you to eat too much of, like salt. Seems like giving one number, not referenced to body mass, is deceptive. Or too little. Hyponatremia is a bitch. Generally speaking, the RDA is “good enough” for most people. Depending on dietary restrictions, activity level, and things like that, the numbers might need to fudge up or down a bit. 10% either way, unless consistent and sustained over a long period of time, won’t cause any damage. There are a couple options for daily values, however. The one commonly seen on packaging is related to a 2000 calorie diet. At 40 years old, 6’0", and 200 pounds, your body will burn ~1850 calories a day if you never get out of bed or increase your heart rate. Working off of a 2000 calorie a day diet means you only get 150 extra calories to get through your day…that’s less than 15 minutes of cycling at a slow to moderate pace (13 mph). You’ll probably be aiming more towards the 2500 calorie values, which mostly scale up accordingly. Things like sodium and cholesterol don’t, and my google-fu has failed. I’ll update when my dietitian responds, if no one else has. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-daily-amount-vs-body-size/781704/5 "2017-03-09T00:35:58Z")
My doc once told that advil dosing was based on a 200 lb man so I take between 1.5 and 2 x the dose when my shoulders are hurting. It freaked my wife out a bit to watch me taking advil 4 or 5 at a time. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-daily-amount-vs-body-size/781704/6 "2017-03-09T01:23:02Z")
IANA medical anything, but be forewarned not everything scales with weight. AIUI … If you’re really 350+ lbs, not all of that needs to be bathed in ibuprofen for your shoulders to feel better. Your liver is responsible for clearing out the ibuprofen and yours is close to the same size as mine. For comparison, I weighed 139 lbs this morning. Your liver is already undersized for the rest of you. Making it work 2x harder than its normal overloaded condition clearing drugs is not doing it any favors. The good news is Dr. Wiki tells me that ibuprofen specifically is kinda hard to OD on. But my friendly advice as a non-expert is to not just go around applying that 2x factor to any meds willy nilly. Life without a functional liver is very miserable and very, very short. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-daily-amount-vs-body-size/781704/7 "2017-03-09T03:03:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > IANA medical anything, but be forewarned not everything scales with weight. > > AIUI … > > If you’re really 350+ lbs, not all of that needs to be bathed in ibuprofen for your shoulders to feel better. Your liver is responsible for clearing out the ibuprofen and yours is close to the same size as mine. For comparison, I weighed 139 lbs this morning. Your liver is already undersized for the rest of you. Making it work 2x harder than its normal overloaded condition clearing drugs is not doing it any favors. > > The good news is Dr. Wiki tells me that ibuprofen specifically is kinda hard to OD on. But my friendly advice as a non-expert is to not just go around applying that 2x factor to any meds willy nilly. Life without a functional liver is very miserable and very, very short. Brief hijack- The good news: Taking too much ibuprofen will not affect your liver The bad news: Since it is metabolized by the\* kidneys\*, not the liver, it can damage your\* kidneys\* both acutely and chronically. /end hijack ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-daily-amount-vs-body-size/781704/8 "2017-03-09T03:25:00Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > My doc once told that advil dosing was based on a 200 lb man so I take between 1.5 and 2 x the dose when my shoulders are hurting. It freaked my wife out a bit to watch me taking advil 4 or 5 at a time. IANAD Scaling guidelines that I have seen from one creature (e.g. a rat to a bunny) recommend adjusting by the surface area, rather than the volumetric increase. I’m not sure why this is, but I would assume that it’s because the wall of an organ is usually where most of the magic happens. The interior spaces are just functionless holding receptacles. (Obviously, it will depend on the organ in question, but erring on the side of caution, you wouldn’t want to jump straight to the volumetric increase, since if multiple systems might be affected by a medication, it will be the weakest chain in the link that gives out.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommended-daily-amount-vs-body-size/781704/9 "2017-03-09T11:03:36Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > Brief hijack- > > The good news: > Taking too much ibuprofen will not affect your liver > > The bad news: > Since it is metabolized by the\* kidneys\*, not the liver, it can damage your\* kidneys\* both acutely and chronically. > /end hijack Damn. I even looked up ibuprofen to check out that exact question: liver or kidney? I didn’t quickly find a good answer and didn’t keep digging. Laziness strikes again. Thanks for the correction. I believe my overall point still stands.