DIETARY

REFERENCE
INTAKES
 Philippine Dietary Reference Intakes (PDRI)

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of

Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST) launches the PDRI 2015 during
the opening ceremony of the 41st FNRI Seminar Series on July 1, 2015
at the FNRI Auditorium. The 2015 PDRI adopts the multi-level approach
for setting nutrient reference values to meet the needs of various
stakeholders for appropriate nutrient reference values.
This is for planning and assessing diets of healthy groups and
individuals. PDRI is the collective term comprising reference value for
energy and nutrient levels of intakes. The components of PDRI are:
•Estimated Average Requirement (EAR): daily nutrient
intake level that meets the median or average requirement
of healthy individuals in particular life stage and sex
group, corrected for incomplete utilization or dietary
nutrient bioavailability.

•Recommended Energy/Nutrient Intake (REI/RNI):

level of intake of energy or nutrient which is considered
adequate for the maintenance of health and well-being of
healthy persons in the population.
•Adequate Intake (AI): daily nutrient intake level that is
based on observed or experimentally-determined
approximation of the average nutrient intake by a group
(groups) of apparently healthy people that are assumed to
sustain a defined nutritional state.

•Tolerable Upper Intake Level or Upper Limit (UL):

highest average daily nutrient intake level likely to pose no
adverse health effects to almost all
What are the Dietary Reference Intakes
(DRIs)?
•Reference values of nutrients, primarily used by
nutrition health professionals
•Basis for
•assessing planning diets of healthy people
•federal nutrition food programs
What are the purposes of the DRIs?

•To maintain nutritional adequacy

•To promote health
•To reduce risk of chronic disease
•To provide a measure for evaluating inadequacy
and/or excess
•To assess intakes as distributions
•Across population groups
•In individuals
•To plan diets
Who established the DRIs?

Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine,

National Academy of Sciences
•Panels of experts chosen by the National
Academy independently selected
•Funded by DHHS, USDA, Health Canada, private
industry
•Serially published 1997 continuing
•www.iom.edu
What are the different DRI
values?
•Estimated Average Requirement EAR
•Recommended Dietary Allowance RDA
•Adequate Intake AI
•Tolerable Upper Intake Level UL
What is a nutrient requirement?
A requirement is the lowest continuing intake
that will maintain a defined level of nutriture.

What is the EAR?

Estimated Average RequirementNutrient intake to meet the
requirement of half the healthy people of an age gender

•The MEDIAN (Think bell curve)

•Basis for establishing an RDA
What is the RDA?

Recommended Dietary Allowance - Nutrient intake

to meet the requirement for
nearly all (97-98) healthy people of an age
gender
•Derived from an EAR
•EAR 2 standard deviations
What is the AI?
Adequate IntakeNutrient intake of healthy people
assumed to be adequate

•Used when an RDA cannot be established

•Insufficient data to determine an EAR
•Based on observed intakes, experimental data,
etc
What is the UL?
•Tolerable Upper Intake Level Highest daily nutrient
intake likely to pose no
risk of adverse health effects to almost all the
general population
•Applies to daily use
•Not a recommended level
•No established benefits of higher level
•Increased risks at higher intakes
Tolerable Upper Intake Level ULs vary among nutrients

•some apply to intake from all sources -- food,

fortified food, supplements, water (eg, calcium,
vitamin D)
•some apply to intake from synthetic forms alone
(eg, folic acid, niacin, magnesium)
•not all nutrients have ULs established presently
(eg, vitamin B12)
Use of DRIs Assessing Intakes For an
Individual

•EAR Use to examine the probability that usual

intake is inadequate
•RDA Usual intake at/above this level has low
probability of inadequacy
•AI Usual intake at/above this level has low
probability of inadequacy
•UL Usual intake above this level may place
individual at risk of adverse effects from
excessive nutrient intake
For a Group

•EAR Use to examine the prevalence of inadequate

intakes within a group
•RDA Do not use to assess intakes of groups
•AI Mean usual intake at/above this level implies
a low prevalence of inadequate intakes
•UL Use to estimate population at potential
risk of adverse effects from excessive nutrient
intake
•RDA is inappropriate for assessing groups
•RDA intake levels that exceed requirements of
9798 of all individuals when requirements in
the group have a normal distribution
•Thus, RDA not a cut-point for assessing nutrient
intakes of groups-- serious overestimation of the
proportion of the group at risk of inadequacy
would result

Group Prevalence of Inadequate Intakes

What proportion of individuals in a group have
usual intake below requirements?
•The below the EAR
Using the EAR to assess groups
Obtain data on usual nutrient intake from all
sources (food supplements).
•Adjust the intake distribution for
intra-individual variability.
•Determine the proportion with intakes below the
EAR - this is the proportion of the population
with inadequate intakes.
•To date, no published studies using this method.
•Software available to encourage this approach
(see next slide).
Why use the DRIs?
•Increase accuracy of dietary assessments,
taking care that
•dietary data are complete,
•portions are correctly specified,
•food composition data are accurate,
•methodologies plans for sampling group intakes
are appropriate.
Why do we need to assure nutrient
quality?

•To impact nutritional status

•To impact health
•To impact functionality
•To impact quality of life
•To assist older adults in making healthy choices
•To measure document outcomes