Assessment of the prevalence of inadequate iron intakes in premenopausal females based on the reference values of the European Food Safety Authority using cross-sectional food consumption data.

This study provided an example of using the PA method by using additionally derived information on the full requirement distribution underlying EFSA's reference values. Results showed once more the unsuitability of the EAR cut-point method to calculate the prevalence of iron inadequacy in premenopausal females. Hence, we recommend that institutions deriving dietary reference values provide all the information needed to use the correct method to determine inadequate intakes in the population.