Dietary reference intakes: concepts and approaches underlying protein and energy requirements.

Nutrient reference values provide guidance for maintaining and enhancing health via standard setting and development of nutritionally improved products to decrease the risk of disease. Since 1941, the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States has developed and periodically revised recommendations for nutrients; the last (10th) edition of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) was released in 1989. In 1994 the FNB initiated an expanded approach to develop dietary reference intakes (DRI), quantitative nutrient intakes that include concepts of chronic disease risk and multiple reference values more specifically suited to various applications. In concert with Canadian scientists, 10 DRI reports have been completed since 1997 and are available for review at www.nap.edu. The DRI reports explicitly review possible functional endpoints considered in determining the adequacy of each nutrient, and differentiate between the statistical basis for assessing the adequacy of intakes for individuals and groups and providing recommended intakes, as well as levels of nutrient intake that should not be exceeded. Recommended intakes for infants are based on average volumes of intake by healthy, full-term, exclusively breast-fed infants and nutrient analysis of human milk; the recommended intake also includes nutrients contributed by complementary foods consumed during the second 6-month period of life.