RECOMMENDED DIETARY ALLOWANCES, 8TH EDITION, 1974

• NCJ Number: 61429
• Author(s): ANON
• Date Published: 1974
• Length: 134 pages
• Grant Number(s): NO 5 RO 1 AM-05296
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Corporate Author: National Acad of Sciences
• Sale Source: National Acad of Sciences
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

RECOMMENDED DIETARY ALLOWANCES (RDA'S) AND THEIR APPROPRIATE USE ARE DEFINED IN RELATION TO WATER, ENERGY, PROTEIN, ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS AND FAT-SOLUBLE VITAMINS, WATER-SOLUBLE VITAMINS, AND MINERAL ELEMENTS.

Abstract

INTAKE LEVELS OF ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS CONSIDERED BY THE FOOD AND NUTRITION BOARD ADEQUATE TO MEET KNOWN NUTRITIONAL NEEDS OF PRACTICALLY ALL HEALTHY PERSONS ARE TERMED RDA'S. TO ENSURE THAT POSSIBLY UNRECOGNIZED NUTRITIONAL NEEDS ARE MET, RDA'S SHOULD BE PROVIDED FROM A VARIED SELECTION OF FOODS. FURTHERMORE, RDA'S SHOULD BE PROVIDED FROM ACCEPTABLE AND PALATABLE FOODS. DIETARY REQUIREMENTS SHOULD NOT BE CONFUSED WITH RDA'S. RDA'S REPRESENT INTAKE LEVELS OF NUTRIENTS THAT MEET NEEDS OF HEALTHY PEOPLE; THEY DO NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT SPECIAL NEEDS ARISING FROM INFECTIONS, METABOLIC DISORDERS, CHRONIC DISEASES, AND OTHER ABNORMALITIES THAT REQUIRE SPECIAL DIETARY TREATMENT. RDA'S ARE EXPRESSED IN TERMS OF AGE, WEIGHT, AND SEX GROUPS. THE IDEAL METHOD OF DEVELOPING AN ALLOWANCE IS TO DETERMINE THE AVERAGE REQUIREMENT OF A HEALTHY AND REPRESENTATIVE SEGMENT OF EACH AGE GROUP FOR THE NUTRIENT UNDER CONSIDERATION, TO ASSESS STATISTICALLY THE VARIABILITY AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITHIN THE GROUP, AND TO CALCULATE FROM THIS THE AMOUNT BY WHICH THE AVERAGE REQUIREMENT MUST BE INCREASED TO MEET NEEDS OF NEARLY ALL HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS. CONDITIONS THAT MAY REQUIRE ADJUSTMENTS IN RDA'S ARE BODY SIZE AND SEX, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, CLIMATE, AGING, ILLNESS AND REHABILITATION, AND INTESTINAL PARASITES. IN THE DISCUSSION ON APPROPRIATE USES OF RDA'S, CONSIDERATION IS GIVEN TO PLANNING AND PROCURING FOOD SUPPLIES FOR POPULATION GROUPS, THE INTERPRETATION OF FOOD CONSUMPTION RECORDS IN RELATION TO THE ASSESSMENT OF NUTRITIONAL STATUS, NUTRITIONAL ALLOWANCES AS GUIDELINES IN ESTABLISHING POLICIES FOR HEALTH AND WELFARE PROGRAMS, THE USE OF RDA'S IN NUTRITIONAL SURVEYS AND THEIR RELATION TO GOVERNMENT POLICIES, NUTRITION EDUCATION, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, NUTRITIONAL LABELING, AND THE REGULATION OF NUTRITIONAL QUALITY. A TABLE OF RDA'S IS INCLUDED. (DEP)