How Well Do You Know the US System of Nutrition Recommendations?

US System of Nutrition Recommendations

• The Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) is a system of nutrition recommendations from the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) of the United States.
• The DRI was introduced in 1997 to broaden the existing guidelines known as Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs).
• The DRI values are different from those used in nutrition labeling on food and dietary supplement products in the U.S. and Canada, which uses Reference Daily Intakes (RDIs) and Daily Values (%DV).
• The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) refers to the collective set of information as Dietary Reference Values, with Population Reference Intake (PRI) instead of RDA, and Average Requirement instead of EAR.
• Australia and New Zealand refer to the collective set of information as Nutrient Reference Values, with Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) instead of RDA.
• The 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.
• The Food and Nutrition Board subsequently revised the RDAs every five to ten years.
• The DRI was introduced in 1997 in order to broaden the existing system of RDAs.
• In 2011, revised DRIs were published for calcium and vitamin D.
• The equations used to calculate the RDA include EAR+2SD(EAR) and RDA=1.2EAR.
• The Institute of Medicine held a workshop in 2007 which called for a higher standard of evidence to be utilized when making dietary recommendations.
• In 2004, only 50% of the US population met the EAR or USDA healthy eating patterns.