age intake of human milk at 0 through 6 months, the AI would be 4.9 mg/L × 0.78 L/day = 3.8 mg/day of α-tocopherol. The AI is rounded up to 4 mg (9.3 µmol)/day of α-tocopherol.

This value is in the lower range of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) data for intakes in this age group as shown in Appendix Table C-3. The mean of the reported intakes of infants 0 through 6 months of age was 12.3 mg (28.6 µmol)/day of α-tocopherol equivalents. The range of the 5^th to the 95^th percentile was 8.8–16.1 mg (20.5–37.4 µmol)/day. The mean reported intake is probably higher than that calculated for infants receiving solely human milk, because the NHANES III data include milk from infants fed formula which has a vitamin E content of approximately 7 mg/L of α-tocopherol (Thomas et al., 1981). However, this AI is comparable to vitamin E intakes from human milk-fed German infants whose median intakes of vitamin E were 2 mg/day at 3 months of age and 3 mg/day at 6 months of age (Alexy et al., 1999). Based on data from Boersma et al. (1991), it can be assumed that almost all of the α-tocopherol equivalents in human milk are from α-tocopherol.

Ages 7 through 12 Months. When the method described in Chapter 3 is used to extrapolate from the AI for infants ages 0 through 6 months receiving human milk and rounding, the AI for the older infants is rounded up to 5 mg (11.6 µmol)/day α-tocopherol.

The NHANES III data for infants 7 through 12 months of age range from 4.1 to 14.8 mg (11.2 to 34.4 µmol)/day, mean 8.5 mg (19.8 µmol)/day α-tocopherol equivalents (Appendix Table C-3).

No data were found on which to base an Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for vitamin E for apparently healthy children or adolescents. In the absence of additional information, EARs and Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for children and adolescents have been estimated using the metabolic formulas described