The Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) is a system of nutrition recommendations from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academics. It provides reference values of nutrients in terms of Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA), Adequate Intake (AI) and the Tolerable upper limit intake levels (UL).
Calcium is an important nutrient required for healthy bones and teeth. It is required for blood clotting, releasing hormones, transmission of nerve impulse and other functions of the body. The sources of calcium include the fortified cereals, tofu, milk powder, cheese, dried whey, fish, green leafy vegetables and others. For women and men in the age ranging from 19 to 50, the calcium DRI is 1000 milligrams per day.