the analysis is based on food consumption data collected in nine european countries : denmark , finland , germany , ireland , italy , poland , spain , the netherlands , and united kingdom . the data were collected by an international life science institute ( ilsi ) europe expert group ( 9 ) . the selected micronutrients are vitamin a , retinol , vitamin d , vitamin e , niacin , vitamin b6 , folate , calcium , magnesium , iron , zinc , phosphorus , iodine , selenium , and copper . data reflect intakes from natural sources plus mandatory fortification ( practiced in denmark , ireland , and poland )  other fortification and supplements are not included . the survey methods comprise seven - day records or diaries with estimated or weighed amounts of foods ( denmark , ireland , italy , and uk ) and 24 ( poland ) or 48-hour recall ( finland , the netherlands , and spain ) . germany used a modified diet history and the dutch and spanish recalls were supplied with semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires . the data from spain and the netherlands have been adjusted to correct for short registration period ( 9 ) . 
  national dietary surveys with information on year , methodology , survey size , and age range intake of nutrients was calculated using national food composition databases . the intake data provide data from four groups : children 410 years , children 1117 years , adult women , and adult men . the analytical process included steps 2 and 3 of the following four steps for each of the selected vitamins and minerals and for each selected gender and age group : calculation of mean intakes from each of the dietary surveys ( an estimate of mean european intake).calculation of the ratio between the 95th percentile and mean intake in each survey.calculation of the average of the ratios.calculation of the common estimate for high intake as the product between steps 1 and 3 ( an estimate of european 95th percentile intake ) . calculation of mean intakes from each of the dietary surveys ( an estimate of mean european intake ) . calculation of the common estimate for high intake as the product between steps 1 and 3 ( an estimate of european 95th percentile intake ) . average ratios for each country and the overall average arranged in ascending order are shown in table 2 . the results show that for each nutrient the ratio has approximately the same value from one survey to another , implying that the ratio between high and average intake of micronutrients follows a regular pattern across countries and survey methods . the polish ratios are systematically higher than those of the other countries due to the short registration period , which causes a wider intake distribution . the spanish and to some extent also the dutch ratios are lower than the others probably because of adjustment of primary data . in the present analysis average of ratios ( p95:mean intakes ) from national dietary surveys in nine european countries intake is not reported . note : the overall average is based on ratios from all gender and age groups , i.e. normally four ratios from each country . overall , the ratios can be divided into three categories : one category with overall ratios of the 95th percentile and mean intake between 1.48 and 1.58 ; this range in ratios is close to the energy ratio ( 1.45 ) and includes the nutrients : magnesium , phosphorus , zinc , iron , vitamin b6 , niacin , and folate.another category has overall ratios in the range between 1.67 and 1.79 and includes the nutrients : calcium , selenium , vitamin e , iodine , and copper.a third category has overall ratios in the range of 2.072.32 and comprises the nutrients : vitamin a , vitamin d , and retinol.in table 3 , ratios of energy and micronutrients for young and older children , and adult females and males are presented . ratios for the group of young children tend to be slightly lower than the ratios for adults . the intake distributions of children aged 1117 years are wider and thus the ratios higher because of a wider range in energy requirements in this group . an exception from this tendency is the ratios of vitamin a , vitamin d , and retinol , which are lower than other group values . one category with overall ratios of the 95th percentile and mean intake between 1.48 and 1.58 ; this range in ratios is close to the energy ratio ( 1.45 ) and includes the nutrients : magnesium , phosphorus , zinc , iron , vitamin b6 , niacin , and folate . another category has overall ratios in the range between 1.67 and 1.79 and includes the nutrients : calcium , selenium , vitamin e , iodine , and copper . a third category has overall ratios in the range of 2.072.32 and comprises the nutrients : vitamin a , vitamin d , and retinol . average of ratios ( p95:mean intakes ) from all counties divided into age and gender groups note : figures in parentheses are the number of countries contributing to the average . the results of the present study show that the ratio between high and mean intake for each micronutrient is fairly stable from one survey to another . the similarity occurs despite differences in dietary habits across countries and despite several differences of methodological nature ( type of dietary survey , food composition data base , sampling procedure , etc . ) . this similarity probably reflects the biological nature of eating and eating a variety of foods . we divided the ratios into three rough categories in an attempt to explain the findings . since most nutrients are widely distributed in rather low concentrations in many foods , their ratios are close to the ratio between the 95th percentile and mean energy intake ( category 1 ) . in category 2 , intakes still follow energy intake but the intake distribution may be influenced by a few foods , which are important nutrient sources and has a skewed intake distribution , e.g. milk , which is the major source of calcium . the third category includes highly skewed intake distributions due to only a few significant food sources of the micronutrient in question . this effect may explain why the ratios for vitamin a , retinol , and vitamin d are lower among the children aged 1117 years than the three other groups , probably reflecting that most teenagers dislike fish , liver , and carrots  foods very rich in these nutrients . the only identifiable factors clearly affecting the ratios are the length of registration period and modification of primary data . because of the pragmatic purpose of this study and because excluding , i.e. polish data does not change the overall ratios much , we decided to accept all survey results . the reason for this was the assumption that most underreporters are individuals found in the lower end of the intake distribution ( i.e. below mean intake ) and that the pattern of underreporting is the same in all populations . if the intakes of underreporters were increased to true levels , the intake distribution would be narrowed probably without any significant increase in levels of high intakes . this means that the mean values will increase and the ratio p95/mean will be reduced . the final product between the overall higher mean and lower ratio will be approximately unchanged . we are fully aware of the limitations of the applied procedure where we used aggregated micronutrient data . with access to the individual data from each country but even if the calculations are not mathematically ( statistically ) correct they will still create an estimate of high intake , which is sufficiently valid for the purpose of the present study . the uncertainty is hardly any larger than that of results from any of the single surveys . one could argue that simply calculating the average of 95th percentiles would be a more simple and direct way to a common estimate of high intake . this is true and the results would probably be close to the results calculated via the ratios . another argument against the present approach is the use of mean instead of median values . but using the ratio between 95th percentile and median did not change the final results ( results not shown ) and since it is important to find figures that will satisfy all member states in the eu , we suggest the use of mean values instead of median values . using the present method makes it possible to include mean intake estimates from dietary surveys that are not able to describe the intake distribution . this will allow us to use data from all or at least most european countries and thus increase the acceptability of the results across all eu member states . flynn et al . ( 4 ) used a different approach in their model for calculating safe additions to foods . they expressed in each survey the high intakes ( 9097.5th percentiles ) as multiples of recommended intakes and used the mean of these multiples as a representative value . however , this method does not allow use of results from surveys giving only mean intakes . unfortunately the ilsi study does not provide data for all nutrients but we assume that the remaining vitamins and minerals will fit into a similar pattern . it still has to be shown based on dietary intake data whether this assumption is true , before the proposed model for calculating common european estimates for high intakes of all vitamins and mineral can be implemented in administrative practice . the average ratio of the 95th percentile and the mean intakes of energy and micronutrients from foods show a remarkable similarity across countries and age groups . for each nutrient it is possible based on dietary surveys from different countries to calculate a representative european average . the average ratio of the 95th percentile and the mean intakes is a simple and suitable measure for calculation of an estimate of high intake from an estimated average intake by the four steps described in the methods section . it is possible to include mean intake estimates from dietary surveys , which are not able to describe the intake distribution . the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest and have received no funding for the present paper .
background : a central element in establishing maximum amount of micronutrients in fortified foods and supplements is to reach to an agreement on how to estimate high intakes of vitamins and minerals from the european diet.objective:to examine whether ratios between the 95th percentile and mean intakes of vitamins and minerals show similarities across different countries independent of dietary habits and survey methods and if so , to suggest a simple and pragmatic way to calculate common estimates of high micronutrient intakes from foods.design:intake data of selected vitamins and minerals from nine european countries were examined for adult females and males and for children aged 410 and 1117 years . 
 the ratios between the 95th percentile and mean intakes were calculated for each micronutrient , country , and age group.results:the ratios for each micronutrient follow a fairly regular pattern across countries and survey methods with differences between age groups.the nutrients fall into three categories : nutrients with ratios between 1.45 and 1.58  energy , magnesium , phosphorus , zinc , iron , vitamin b6 , niacin , and folate ; nutrients with ratios between 1.67 and 1.79  calcium , selenium , vitamin e , iodine , and copper ; nutrients with ratios between 2.08 and 2.32  vitamin a , vitamin d , and retinol.conclusion:sufficiently precise estimates of high micronutrient intakes across european countries can be reached by multiplying the overall average of ratios ( p95/mean intakes ) for each micronutrient with the corresponding mean intakes from all available dietary surveys in europe . 
 this approach is a simple and pragmatic way to create common european estimates of high micronutrient intakes from foods .