RNI is not the same as RDA or GDA, although they are often similar.
Current recommendations
General advice is given for healthy people using the table. The government recommends that healthy people should eat a diet which contains plenty of starch. It also recommends that a person should eat at least 5 fruit or vegetable portions each day. Meat, fish, eggs and other protein-rich foods should be eaten in moderation. Dairy products should also be moderately consumed. Finally, salt, saturated fat and sugar should be eaten least of all. This advice is summarized in the eatwell guide. Note that exceptions to these rules include pregnant women and young children. Additionally, those who have little exposure to sunlight may need to take vitamin D supplementation.
Salt
The guideline salt intake for adults is about 6 grams of salt. The Food Standards Agency estimate the average salt intake is about 8.6 grams/day . A high salt diet is likely to increase the risk of high blood pressure, which is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Age
Target salt intake
0–6 months
Less than 1g
7–12 months
1g
1–3 years
2g
4–6 years
3g
7–10 years
5g
11 years+
6g
Protein, vitamins and minerals
Recommendations for protein, vitamins and minerals vary by age. Where different intakes for males and females are recommended, the higher value is identified in the table below to ensure that the greatest daily needs of the group is met:
Nutrient
1-3yrs
4-6yrs
7-10yrs
11-14yrs
15-18yrs
Adults 19-50 yrs
Adults 50+
Protein
15g
20g
28g
42g
55g
55g
53g
Iron
7 mg
6 mg
9 mg
14.8 mg
14.8 mg
14.8 mg
9 mg
Zinc
5 mg
6.5 mg
7 mg
9 mg
9.5 mg
9.5 mg
9.5 mg
Vitamin A
400mcg
400mcg
500mcg
600mcg
700mcg
700mcg
700mcg
Folate
70mcg
100mcg
150mcg
200mcg
200mcg
200mcg
200mcg
Vitamin C
30 mg
30 mg
30 mg
35 mg
40 mg
40 mg
40 mg
Extension to EU level
In recent times, Dietary Reference Values are under the interest of the European Food Safety Authority too, which intend to extend them at the EU level. EFSA is the equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration in the USA, and acts as watchdog inside the European market in order to establish a common ground on food safety requirements and nutrition as well. EFSA met in September 2009 with representative of the Member States in order to gain their views on fats, carbohydrates, fibres and water as well as Food-Based Dietary Guidelines. Furthermore EFSA is searching for comments by 15 October, in order to validate its assumptions on the need to have:
carbohydrates comprising 45%–60% of the overall daily caloric intake
fats being comprised among 20%–35% of the overall caloric intake
fibre needs: complying with 25 grams/day
EFSA considers that there are not sufficient data to set DRVs for sugars, and not systematic scientific substantiation linking diseases such as stroke or diabetes to an increased intake of sugars. In any case, there is much literature referring to this link, on journals with very high impact factor and statistically robust design and results Many problems seem nowadays to derive from having integrated EU level DRV:
the presence of a previous EFSA opinion on Food Based Dietary Guidelines, aimed at stressing the need of having only country-based guidelines, against the WHO hypothesis. This is due to very different food patterns, for EFSA, inside Europe.
the presence of private scheme such as GDA, referring on the same subject but casting shadow on the effectiveness of DRVs as public authorities' scheme.
