Dietary Reference Intake

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) is a system of nutrition recommendations from the Institute of
Medicine (IOM) of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The DRI system is used by both
the United States and Canada and is intended for the general public and health professionals.
Applications include:

Composition of diets for schools, prisons, hospitals or nursing homes

Industries developing new food stuffs
Healthcare policy makers and public health officials

The DRI was introduced in 1997 in order to broaden the existing guidelines known as
Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs). The DRI values are not currently used in nutrition
labeling, where the older Reference Daily Intakes are still used.
Contents
[hide]

1 History
2 Current recommendations
o 2.1 Vitamins and minerals
o 2.2 Macronutrients
3 Calculating the RDA
4 Recent developments
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links

History[edit]
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) was developed during World War II by Lydia J.
Roberts, Hazel Stiebeling, and Helen S. Mitchell, all part of a committee established by the United
States National Academy of Sciences in order to investigate issues of nutrition that might "affect
national defense" (Nestle, 35).[1] The committee was renamed the Food and Nutrition Board in 1941,
after which they began to deliberate on a set of recommendations of a standard daily allowance for
each type of nutrient. The standards would be used for nutrition recommendations for the armed
forces, for civilians, and for overseas population who might need food relief. Roberts, Stiebeling, and
Mitchell surveyed all available data, created a tentative set of allowances for "energy and eight
nutrients", and submitted them to experts for review (Nestle, 35). The final set of guidelines, called
RDAs for Recommended Dietary Allowances, were accepted in 1941. The allowances were meant
to provide superior nutrition for civilians and military personnel, so they included a "margin of safety."
Because of food rationing during the war, the food guides created by government agencies to direct
citizens' nutritional intake also took food availability into account.
The Food and Nutrition Board subsequently revised the RDAs every five to ten years. In the early
1950s, United States Department of Agriculture nutritionists made a new set of guidelines that also
included the number of servings of each food group in order to make it easier for people to receive
their RDAs of each nutrient.

Current recommendations[edit]
The current Dietary Reference Intake recommendation is composed of:[2]

Estimated Average Requirements (EAR), expected to satisfy the needs of 50% of the people
in that age group based on a review of the scientific literature.
Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA), the daily dietary intake level of a nutrient
considered sufficient by the Food and Nutrition Board to meet the requirements of 97.5% of
healthy individuals in each life-stage and sex group. It is calculated based on the EAR and is
usually approximately 20% higher than the EAR (See Calculating the RDA).
Adequate Intake (AI), where no RDA has been established, but the amount established is
somewhat less firmly believed to be adequate for everyone in the demographic group.
Tolerable upper intake levels (UL), to caution against excessive intake of nutrients (like vitamin
A) that can be harmful in large amounts. This is the highest level of daily consumption that
current data have shown to cause no side effects in humans when used indefinitely without
medical supervision.

The RDA is used to determine the Recommended Daily Value (RDV) which is printed on food labels
in the U.S. and Canada.

Vitamins and minerals[edit]

EARs, RDA/AIs and ULs for an average healthy 44-year old male are shown below. EARs shown as
"NE" have not yet been established or not yet evaluated. ULs shown as "ND" could not be
determined, and it is recommended that intake from these nutrients be from food only, to prevent
adverse effects. Amounts and "ND" status for other age and gender groups, pregnant women,
lactating women, and breastfeeding infants may be much different.[3]
Nutrient

[4]
EAR RDA/AI UL Unit

Top Sources in Common Measures, USDA[5]

Vitamin A

625

900

3000 g

carrots, turkey, pumpkin, egg yolk, liver

Vitamin C

75

90

2000 mg

oranges, grapefruits, peaches, kiwifruit, bell peppers

Vitamin D[6]

10

15

100

fortified cereals, mushrooms, yeast, sockeye

salmon, swordfish, rainbow trout, sardines, cod liver oil
(also fortified foods and beverages)

Vitamin K

NE

120

ND

kale, collards, spinach, yellow split peas, white beans,

green peas

Vitamin B6

1.1

1.3

100

mg

fortified cereals, chickpeas, sockeye salmon

-tocopherol (Vitamin
12
E)

15

1000 mg

fortified cereals, tomato paste, sunflower seeds

Biotin (B7)

NE

30

ND

whole grains, almonds, peanuts, beef liver, egg yolk,

salmon[7]

Calcium[6]

800

1000

2500 mg

fortified cereals, collards, almonds, condensed cow's

milk, cheese, figs, orange juice

Chloride

NE

2300

3600 mg

table salt

Chromium

NE

35

ND

broccoli, turkey ham, grape juice[8]

Choline

NE

550

3500 mg

egg yolk, meats, lecithin, broccoli, beef liver, condensed

milk

Copper

700

900

10000 g

sunflower seeds, oysters, lobster, cashews, dark

chocolate

Cyanocobalamin (B12) 2.0

2.4

ND

fortified cereals, turkey, clams, beef, egg yolk, sardines,

tuna fish

Fluoride

NE

10

mg

public drinking water, where fluoridation is performed or

natural fluorides are present

Folate (B9)

320

400

1000 g

leafy greens, enriched white rice, fortified cereals,

enriched cornmeal

Iodine

95

150

1100 g

iodized salt, kelp, cod

Iron

45

mg

fortified cereals, turkey, walnuts, dark chocolate

Magnesium

330

400

350a

mg

buckwheat flour, rolled oats, spinach, almonds,

dark chocolate

Manganese

NE

2.3

11

mg

oat bran, whole grain wheat flour, bulgur, rolled oats,

brown rice, dark chocolate

Molybdenum

34

45

2000 g

legumes, grain products, green peas, nuts and seeds[9]

Niacin (B3)

12

16

35

mg

fortified cereals, yellowfin tuna, sockeye salmon,

chicken meat

Pantothenic acid (B5)

NE

ND

mg

fortified cereals, beef liver, shiitake mushrooms

Phosphorus

580

700

4000 mg

cornmeal, condensed milk, wheat flour, rolled oats,

brown rice, bulgur, milk

Potassium

NE

4700

ND

mg

potatoes, bananas, tomato paste, tomatoes, orange

juice, beet greens, quinoa, rolled oats, bulgur, beans,
peas, cashews, pistachio nuts

Riboflavin (B2)

1.1

1.3

ND

mg

almonds, sesame seeds, spaghetti, beef liver, turkey

Selenium

45

55

400

Brazil nuts, rockfish, yellowfin tuna, beef, sardines,

salmon, egg yolk

Sodium

NE

1500

2300 mg

onion soup mix, miso, table salt, egg whites

Thiamin (B1)

1.0

1.2

ND

mg

fortified cereals, enriched wheat flour, breadcrumbs

Zinc

9.4

11

40

mg

nuts, oysters, fortified cereals, beef, baked beans

EAR: Estimated Average Requirements; RDA: Recommended Dietary Allowances; AI: Adequate Intake; UL: Tolerable upper intake levels.
a

The UL for magnesium represents extra intake from dietary supplements. High doses of magnesium from dietary supplements or
medications often result in diarrhea that can be accompanied by nausea and abdominal cramping.[10] There is no evidence of
adverse effects from the consumption of naturally occurring magnesium in foods.

It is also recommended that the following substances not be added to food or dietary
supplements. Research has been conducted into adverse effects, but was not conclusive in
many cases:
Substance RDA/AI UL units per day

Arsenic

ND

Silicon

ND

Vanadium

1.8 mg

Macronutrients[edit]
RDA/AI is shown below for males and females aged 4050 years.[3]

Substance

Amount
(males)

Amount
(females)

Top Sources in Common Measures[5]

Waterb

3.7 L/day

2.7 L/day

water, watermelon, iceberg lettuce

Carbohydrates

130 g/day

130 g/day

milk, grains, fruits, vegetables

Proteinc

56 g/day

46 g/day

meats, fish, legumes (pulses and lentils), nuts,

milk, cheeses, eggs

Fiber

38 g/day

25 g/day

barley, bulgur, rolled oats, legumes, nuts,

beans, apples,

Fat

Linoleic acid, an omega-6

fatty acid(polyunsaturated)

alpha-Linolenic acid,
an omega-3 fatty

2035% of calories

oils, butter, lard, nuts, seeds, fatty meat cuts,

egg yolk, cheeses

17 g/day

12 g/day

sunflower seeds, sunflower oil, safflower oil,

1.6 g/day

1.1 g/day

Linseed oil (Flax seed), salmon, sardines

acid (polyunsaturated)

Cholesterol

Trans fatty acids

Saturated fatty acids

Added sugar

b
c

300 milligrams(mg)[11]

chicken giblets, turkey giblets, beef liver, egg

yolk

As low as possible

As low as possible while

coconut meat, coconut oil, lard, cheeses,
consuming a nutritionally
butter, chocolate, egg yolk
adequate diet [12]

No more than 25% of

calories

foods that taste sweet but are not found in

nature, like: sweets, cookies, cakes, jams,
energy drinks, soda drinks, many processed
foods,

Includes water from food, beverages, and drinking water.

Based on 0.8 g/kg of body weight

Calculating the RDA[edit]

The equations used to calculate the RDA are as follows:
"If the standard deviation (SD) of the EAR is available and the requirement for the
nutrient is symmetrically distributed, the RDA is set at two SDs above the EAR:

If data about variability in requirements are insufficient to calculate an SD, a coefficient

of variation (CV) for the EAR of 10 percent is assumed, unless available data indicate a
greater variation in requirements. If 10 percent is assumed to be the CV, then twice that
amount when added to the EAR is defined as equal to the RDA. The resulting equation
for the RDA is then
This level of intake statistically represents 97.5 percent of the requirements of the
population."[13]

Recent developments[edit]
In September 2007, the Institute of Medicine held a workshop entitled The
Development of DRIs 19942004: Lessons Learned and New Challenges.[14] At that
meeting, several speakers stated that the current Dietary Recommended Intakes (DRIs)
were largely based upon the very lowest rank in the quality of evidence pyramid, that is,
opinion, rather than the highest level randomized controlled clinical trials. Speakers
called for a higher standard of evidence to be utilized when making dietary
recommendations.

See also[edit]

Healthy diet
Acceptable daily intake upper limit on intake (United Kingdom)
Dietary Reference Values recommended dietary requirements (United Kingdom)
Reference Intakes - a system of nutrient labeling used in Europe
Vitamin poisoning
Essential amino acid
Canada's Food Guide Essential fatty acid
Food guide pyramid Essential nutrient
Dietary mineral
Food composition