Manganese has been proven to be an essential trace element in animals since 1931. Today, it is known that manganese deficiency results in a wide variety of structural and physiological defects in animals. For humans, the safe and adequate range of intakes for manganese by enteral nutrition is 2.0 to 5 mg per day; for parenteral nutrition a range of 0.15 to 0.8 mg per day is proposed. The manganese content of components of enteral nutrition (EN) and total parenteral nutrition (TPN) solutions is determined using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. Comparison is made between calculated and measured values. The manganese present in supplementary nutrition and flavor stuffs is also measured. The intake of manganese by EN is calculated based on the daily administration, and is found to vary from 192 to 7373 micrograms per day. In prepared TPN-solutions, the manganese contribution of all components before adding the Oligo Complex is found to be less than 0.2% of the total manganese content. After addition of the Oligo Complex mixture, a mean daily intake of 5.02 +/- 0.16 mg per day is found.