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4.14: Dietary Reference Intakes

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    Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are a group of four reference values: Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) (Figure 4.2), and Adequate Intake (AI).

    Dietary Reference Intakes provide a common set of values for both the U.S. and Canada. We as consumers are most concerned with:

    • Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), the amount recommended in the diet to meet the needs of nearly all healthy people. When there isn’t enough information to set an RDA, an Adequate Intake (AI)—based mainly on customary intakes of healthy populations—is substituted. For simplicity, RDA is broadened in this book to include AI, since both values are amounts recommended in the diet.
    • Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL), the highest usual intake of a nutrient that’s unlikely to have adverse effects for nearly all healthy people. (For some nutrients there isn’t enough information to set a UL.) The aim is to not exceed the UL. For sodium, the UL has been replaced by the Chronic Disease Risk Reduction Intake (CDRR), e.g., to lower risk of chronic disease, those over age 13 are advised to reduce sodium intake if it’s above 2300 mg/day.

    This page titled 4.14: Dietary Reference Intakes is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Judi S. Morrill via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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