EFA Education | Dietary Reference

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI)

A major revision in USA nutrient and energy standards is now underway to replace the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) with Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI). Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) is a generic term for several new types of advisory reference values noted below. They are described in a recent IOM report viewable at the URL: http://books.nap.edu/books/0309069351/html/21.html#introduction

EAR - The Estimated Average Requirement is the nutrient intake estimated to meet the requirement defined by a specified indicator of adequacy in 50 percent of an age- and gender-specific group. At this level of intake, the remaining 50 percent of the specified group would not have its needs met.
RDA - The Recommended Dietary Allowance is the dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97 to 98 percent) healthy individuals in a particular life stage and gender group.
AI - The Adequate Intake is a recommended intake value based on observed or experimentally determined approximations or estimates of nutrient intake by a group (or groups) of healthy people that are assumed to be adequate ö used when an RDA cannot be determined
UL - The Tolerable Upper Intake Level is the highest level of daily nutrient intake that is likely to pose no risk of adverse health effects for almost all of the individuals in the general population. As intake increases above the UL, the risk of adverse effects increases.
See more on DRI

Polyunsaturated Lipid Function
(Special Interest Group)

NIH Special Interest Groups

LMBB
(Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics)

ODS Eicosanoids

ISSFAL
  (International Society for the Study
  of Fatty Acids and Lipids)