Manganese: Food Sources & Daily Intake
Manganese is a trace mineral the body needs only in small amounts, yet it is essential. It activates enzymes that build bone, help process carbohydrates, fats and protein for energy metabolism, and form the connective tissue that holds joints together. It is also at the heart of one of the body’s key antioxidant defenses: manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), an enzyme inside mitochondria that neutralizes the reactive oxygen produced by normal metabolism. Manganese is overwhelmingly a plant nutrient — whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, leafy greens and tea supply most of it, while meat and dairy add little.
| Manganese: Food Sources & Daily Intake | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Food (serving) | Per 100 g | %DV / 100g | Glucose | Fructose | Notes |
| 1 | Cloves 1 tsp / 2 g | 60 mg | 🟢 2,613% | 1.1 | 1.1 | A spice, so the serving is tiny but very concentrated. |
| 2 | Black Pepper 1 tsp / 2 g | 13 mg | 🟢 557% | 0.2 | 0.2 | Concentrated, but you only use a pinch. |
| 3 | Pine Nuts 1 oz / 28 g | 8.8 mg | 🟢 383% | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
| 4 | Mussels 3 oz / 85 g | 6.8 mg | 🟢 296% | — | — | One of the richest animal sources of manganese. |
| 5 | Hazelnuts 1 oz / 28 g | 6.2 mg | 🟢 269% | 0.1 | 0.1 | A small handful goes a long way. |
| 6 | Oats ½ cup dry / 40 g | 4.9 mg | 🟢 214% | — | — | Whole grains are among the most reliable everyday sources. |
| 7 | Pecans 1 oz / 28 g | 4.5 mg | 🟢 196% | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| 8 | Pumpkin Seeds 1 oz / 28 g | 4.5 mg | 🟢 195% | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
| 9 | Dark Chocolate 1 oz / 28 g | 1.9 mg | 🟢 85% | 0 | 0 | 70–85% cacao; cocoa is naturally manganese-rich. |
| 10 | Chickpeas 1 cup / 164 g | 1.0 mg | 🟡 45% | — | — | |
| 11 | Brown Rice 1 cup / 195 g | 1.0 mg | 🟡 42% | 0 | 0 | Common staple. |
| 12 | Spinach 1 cup / 180 g | 0.9 mg | 🟡 41% | — | — | Cooking shrinks the leaves so you eat more per cup. |
| 13 | Pineapple 1 cup / 165 g | 0.9 mg | 🟡 40% | 1.7 | 2.1 | Unusually high among fruits. |
| 14 | Raspberries 1 cup / 123 g | 0.7 mg | 🟡 29% | 1.9 | 2.4 | |
| 15 | White Beans 1 cup / 179 g | 0.6 mg | 🟡 28% | — | — | |
| 16 | Kale 1 cup / 130 g | 0.5 mg | 🟡 24% | 0.5 | 0.4 | |
| 17 | Beef Organ Meats 3 oz / 85 g | 0.2 mg | ⚪ 8% | 0 | 0 | Nutrient-dense organ meat. |
| 18 | Pork Organ Meats 3 oz / 85 g | 0.1 mg | ⚪ 6% | — | — | Nutrient-dense organ meat. |
| 19 | Chicken Organ Meats 3 oz / 85 g | 0.2 mg | ⚪ 9% | 0 | 0 | Nutrient-dense organ meat (giblets). |
Table of Contents
How to Read These Tables
- A trace mineral — small amounts go far. Adult needs are measured in single-digit milligrams a day, and many ordinary foods clear that easily. The goal is steady, varied intake rather than chasing any one “super” food.
- %DV vs Adequate Intake (AI). The %DV column compares a serving against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Daily Value of 2.3 mg. Your personal target is the Adequate Intake (AI) — 2.3 mg for men and 1.8 mg for women — an estimate of typical healthy intake rather than a hard requirement; see the second table.
- Per 100 g vs per serving. Per-100 g lets you compare foods fairly, but the serving size matters: spices like cloves are extremely concentrated yet eaten by the teaspoon, while a cup of cooked grains or legumes is a realistic, substantial source.
Recommended Intakes & Upper Limits
Your personal target depends on age, sex and pregnancy. The Daily Value used for the %DV column above is a single label figure; the table below is the age-specific guidance.
| Life stage | Recommended Dietary Allowance / Adequate Intake (mg/day) | Upper limit (mg/day) |
|---|---|---|
| Infants 0–6 mo | 0.003* (Adequate Intake) | Not set |
| Infants 7–12 mo | 0.6* (Adequate Intake) | Not set |
| Children 1–3 y | 1.2* (Adequate Intake) | 2 |
| Children 4–8 y | 1.5* (Adequate Intake) | 3 |
| Children 9–13 y | 1.6–1.9* (Adequate Intake) | 6 |
| Males 14–18 y | 2.2* (Adequate Intake) | 9 |
| Males 19+ y | 2.3* (Adequate Intake) | 11 |
| Females 14–18 y | 1.6* (Adequate Intake) | 9 |
| Females 19+ y | 1.8* (Adequate Intake) | 11 |
| Pregnancy | 2.0* (Adequate Intake) | 9–11 |
| Lactation | 2.6* (Adequate Intake) | 9–11 |
Bioavailability & Absorption
The body absorbs only a small fraction of the manganese in food — typically a few percent — and it tightly regulates how much it keeps, which is one reason dietary overload is so uncommon. A 2024 Nordic review puts absorption below 10% and notes that it depends on how much manganese is in the diet and on a person’s iron status. Two things lower absorption: phytates (phytic acid) in whole grains, legumes and seeds bind manganese in the gut, and high iron intake competes with it for uptake, so people with very high iron stores or large iron supplements may absorb less manganese (and vice versa). Practical kitchen steps that cut phytate — soaking, sprouting and fermenting grains and beans — modestly improve how much manganese you actually take in.
Cooking & Storage
Manganese is a mineral, so it does not break down with heat the way fragile vitamins do — baking, roasting and toasting nuts, grains and seeds leave it intact. The main way to lose it is by boiling in water you then pour off, since some minerals leach into the cooking liquid; steaming, or using the cooking water in soups and stews, keeps more. Soaking and sprouting beans and grains slightly lowers the total but improves absorption by reducing phytate, so the trade-off favors your body.
Vegetarian & Vegan Sources
Manganese is one of the easiest nutrients on a plant-based diet — in fact plant eaters often get more than omnivores. Nuts, seeds, oats and other whole grains, legumes, leafy greens, pineapple and tea are all strong sources, while meat and dairy contribute little. Anyone eating a normal variety of these foods comfortably meets the Adequate Intake, and there is no animal-source gap to plan around. The only nuance is that the same plant foods carry phytates, so soaking, sprouting or fermenting grains and beans helps you absorb what you eat.
Who Needs to Pay Attention
Dietary manganese deficiency is very rare in healthy people; the mineral is so widespread in plant foods that ordinary diets supply plenty, and a 2024 review for the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations states that deficiency “is not of public health concern”. Deficiency is rare even in people on long-term intravenous (parenteral) feeding, because the feeding solutions carry enough manganese as a contaminant to meet needs. There the recognised problem is the opposite: a 2018 review calls manganese build-up (toxicity) a well-recognized complication of intravenous feeding. It usually shows up as Parkinson-like symptoms, or, before any symptoms, as a high blood manganese level or a bright signal in the basal ganglia (deep brain areas) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The recommended adult intravenous dose is 55 µg a day, but most multi-trace-element mixes supply more. For the general public the bigger concern also runs toward excess, but it almost never comes from food. Excess manganese is mainly an environmental and occupational problem — inhaled dust or fumes in welding, mining and smelting, or high levels in contaminated well water — which can affect the nervous system. Children have been studied closely: a 2020 review of 55 studies (13,388 children) linked higher manganese exposure with poorer cognitive and motor development, mostly in children under 6. A 10-fold rise in hair manganese was linked to 2.51 fewer IQ points, while blood and drinking-water measures did not give a significant pooled IQ effect. Manganese leaves the body mainly through the bile. People with liver disease clear manganese poorly, and on intravenous feeding the risk of manganese toxicity rises with blocked bile flow (cholestasis); excess manganese in the brain causes manganism, a condition that resembles Parkinson’s disease. For the general public eating a normal mix of whole foods, food is not where these manganese problems come from.
Key Research Papers
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements — Manganese Fact Sheet (AI, DV, UL)
- Linus Pauling Institute — Manganese Micronutrient Information Center
- Kippler M, Oskarsson A (2024). Manganese - a scoping review for Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023. Food & Nutrition Research 68:10367. — PubMed PMID: 38327991
- Holley AK, Bakthavatchalu V, Velez-Roman JM, St Clair DK (2011). Manganese superoxide dismutase: guardian of the powerhouse. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 12(10):7114-7162. — PubMed PMID: 22072939
- Aschner JL, Aschner M (2005). Nutritional aspects of manganese homeostasis. Molecular Aspects of Medicine 26(4-5):353-362. — PubMed PMID: 16099026
- Livingstone C (2018). Manganese provision in parenteral nutrition: an update. Nutrition in Clinical Practice 33(3):404-418. — PubMed PMID: 28445108
- Liu W, Xin Y, Li Q, Shang Y, Ping Z, Min J, Cahill CM, Rogers JT, Wang F (2020). Biomarkers of environmental manganese exposure and associations with childhood neurodevelopment: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environmental Health 19(1):104. — PubMed PMID: 33008482