Nutrient Recommendations: Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI)
These documents are issued by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences. The Food and Nutrition Board addresses issues of safety, quality, and adequacy of the food supply; establishes principles and guidelines of adequate dietary intake; and renders authoritative judgments on the relationships among food intake, nutrition, and health.
DRI is the general term for a set of reference values used to plan and assess nutrient intakes of healthy people. These values, which vary by age and gender, include:
- Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA): average daily level of intake sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97%-98%) healthy people.
- Adequate Intake (AI): established when evidence is insufficient to develop an RDA and is set at a level assumed to ensure nutritional adequacy.
- Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL): maximum daily intake unlikely to cause adverse health effects.