Dietary standards

Given the fact that all individuals have different dietary requirements, establishing nutrient intake standards represent quite a challenge to the scientific community.

Dietary standards are derived from compilations of experimental studies designed to determine the nutrient requirements of the human. There are two basics questions regarding dietary standards: What are the nutrients in food? How much of each nutrients do the human need everyday to be healthy.

Quantitatively, standard are not requirements but, rather are estimations of reasonable levels of nutrients intakes that should support normal functions in most people.

Thus they are intended a basis for planning and evaluating diets of groups of people. Standards tend to vary slightly among countries primarily because populations and environmental conditions vary and because of the interpretation of adequate level of dietary intake also vary.

In the United States and Canada, the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are the current dietary standards.

Theoretically, standards are considered valid only for the group for which they are formulated. Health expert in the United States have for decades been interested in providing guidance as to optimal nutrient intake and one of nation’s first official sets of dietary standards was published in 1943 by the National Academy of Sciences.
Dietary standards