DIETARY REQUIREMENTS OF ADULTS 1863
different nutrients should average out over time. It is Food Labeling (Labelling): Applications; Millets;
not necessary for an individual to be consuming these
amounts of every nutrient at every meal, or even on a
daily basis. Therefore, when collecting dietary data
for comparison with DRVs, the data should reflect
long-term habitual intakes, whether in the individual
or at the community level.
0020 In conclusion, the DRVs are a major advance in the
use of reference nutrient levels in the science of
human nutrition. They build on the old methods
whilst expanding the uses and relevance of recom-
mendations. It is still necessary for people to be
aware of the derivation and limitations of the DRVs,
but they do go some way towards reducing the poten-
tial misuse and abuse of these values.
See also: Carbohydrates: Requirements and Dietary
Importance; Dietary Requirements of Adults; Energy:
Intake and Energy Requirements; Fats: Requirements;
DIETARY REQUIREMENTS OF ADULTS
J Dwyer, Jean Mayer US Department of Agriculture,
Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts
University, Boston, MA, USA
Copyright 2003, Elsevier Science Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
History and Current Status
0001 Nutrients are substances that are not synthesized in
the body in sufficient amounts to perform critical
functions such as growth, reproduction, or health
maintenance and therefore they are required from
the diet.
0002 Although humans have known since ancient times
that they must eat to live, only recently has it been
possible to specify the chemicals and amounts in-
volved with certainty. The rise of this knowledge has
led to the growth of nutrition as a science. In the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the concepts
of energy metabolism and essential nutrients were
formulated, and techniques for quantifying nutrient
requirements were developed. Experimental and
observational work determined the amounts of
nutrients required to prevent frank dietary deficiency
disease. During the middle and later twentieth cen-
tury, attention turned to nutrient functions associated
with chronic degenerative diseases and additional
roles for nutrients. This chapter describes the recent
work on dietary requirements as they have been for-
mulated by the Health Canada/Food and Nutrition
Protein: Requirements; Vitamins: Overview
Further Reading
British Nutrition Foundation Briefing Paper 19 (1992)
Dietary Reference Values – What are They and How
Should They be Used? BNF: London
Buttriss J (2000) Nutrient requirements and optimisation of
intakes. British Medical Journal 56(1): 18–33.
Department of Health. Report on Health and Social Sub-
jects 41 (1991) Dietary Reference Values for Food
Energy and Nutrients for the United Kingdom. London:
HMSO.
Jackson AA (2001) Human protein requirement: policy
issues. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 60: 7–11.
Waterlow JC (1979) Uses of recommended intakes. The
purpose of dietary recommendations. Food Policy 4:
107–114.
Board, National Academy of Sciences in the USA in
the dietary reference intakes. These deliberations and
parallel efforts by expert groups of the World Health
Organization/Food and Agricultural Organization of
the United Nations and many national or regional
governments occupied most of the 1990s. They will
conclude early in the twenty-first century.
The landmark Dietary Reference Intake project 0003
arose because much new work on nutrient needs,
the balance and interactions between nutrients, and
the development of chronic degenerative diseases had
become available by the early 1990s. New techniques
for evaluating the biological functions of nutrients
were present. In addition, many nonnutrients in food
with biological activities of health significance were
being described. The need for upgrading data on the
validity and reliability of existing dietary standards
was evident. Moreover, new statistical techniques for
adjusting nutrient intake data for assessment and
planning purposes had recently become available,
and these needed to be integrated into existing
concepts. Finally, it had become apparent that, in
the past, some uses of dietary requirements and nutri-
ent standards had been inappropriate, and new
guidance was needed.
Estimates of nutrient requirements are now well 0004
delineated for healthy adults, but they are still not so
for special groups, such as very premature infants, the
very old, and the ill. This remains a challenge for the
future.