DIETARY REFERENCE INTAKE 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 Intake are still used. History 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). 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 The current Dietary Reference Intake recommendation is composed of: • 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 nearly all (97–98%) healthy individuals in each life-stage and gender group. It is calculated based on the EAR and is usually approximately 20% higher than the EAR (See "Calculating the RDA", below). • 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. 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 EARs, RDA/AIs and ULs for an average healthy 25-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. Nutrient EAR RDA/AI UL Unit Sources Vitamin A 625 900 30000 µg Liver , Carrot Vitamin C 75 90 2000 mg Guava Vitamin D NE 200 2000 IU Herring , Salmon , Mackerel Vitamin K NE 120 ND µg Spinach , Brassica , Avocado α-tocopherol (Vitamin E) 12 15 1000 IU Wheat germ oil , Almond Biotin NE 30 ND µg Boron NE - 20 mg Calcium NE 1000 2500 mg Milk Chloride NE 2300 3600 mg Chromium NE 35 ND µg Choline NE 550 3500 mg Egg yolks Copper 700 900 10000 µg Cyanocobalamin (B 12 ) 2.0 2.4 ND µg Fluoride NE 4 10 mg Folate (B 9) 320 400 1000 µg Leafy vegetables Iodine 95 150 1100 µg Iron 6 8 45 mg fish , poultry , lentils Magnesium 330 400 350 a mg Manganese NE 2.3 11 mg Molybdenum 34 45 2000 µg Niacin (B 3) 12 16 35 mg Nickel NE - 1.0 mg Pantothenic Acid (B 5) NE 5 ND mg meat , broccoli , avocados Phosphorus 580 700 4000 mg Potassium NE 4700 ND mg Orange , Potato , Banana Riboflavin (B 2) 1.1 1.3 ND mg Yeast extract Selenium 45 55 400 µg Sodium NE 1500 2300 mg Sulfate NE - ND - Thiamin (B 1) 1.0 1.2 ND mg oatmeal Zinc 9.4 11 40 mg wheat , meat a From pill only, not including food and water intake. [However, sustained-release formulations exceeding this dose are well tolerated.] EAR : Estimated Average Requirements RDA : Recommended Dietary Allowances AI : Adequate Intake UL : Tolerable upper intake levels Recent Developments In September 2007, the Institute of Medicine held a workshop entitled “The Development of DRIs 1994–2004: Lessons Learned and New Challenges.” At that meeting, several speakers stated that the current Dietary Recommended Intakes (DRI’s) 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. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietary_Reference_Intake .