Reference Daily Intake

The Reference Daily Intake (RDI) is the daily intake level of a nutrient that is considered to be sufficient to meet the requirements of 97–98% of healthy individuals in every demographic in the United States. While developed for the US population, it has been adopted by other countries, though not universally. The Reference Daily Intake (RDI) is the daily intake level of a nutrient that is considered to be sufficient to meet the requirements of 97–98% of healthy individuals in every demographic in the United States. While developed for the US population, it has been adopted by other countries, though not universally. The RDI is used to determine the Daily Value (DV) of foods, which is printed on nutrition facts labels (as % DV) in the United States and Canada, and is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada. The labels 'high', 'rich in', or 'excellent source of' may be used for a food if it contains 20% or more of the RDI. The labels 'good source', 'contains', or 'provides' may be used on a food if it contains between 10% and 20% of the RDI. The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) were a set of nutrition recommendations that evolved into both the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) system of nutrition recommendations (which still defines RDA values) and the RDIs used for food labelling. The first regulations governing U.S. nutrition labels specified a % U.S. RDA declaration based on the current RDA values, which had been published in 1968. Later, the % U.S. RDA was renamed the %DV and the RDA values that the %DVs were based on became the RDIs. The RDAs (and later the RDA values within the DRI) were regularly revised to reflect the latest scientific information, but although the nutrition labeling regulations were occasionally updated, the existing RDI values were not changed, so that until 2016 many of the DVs used on nutrition facts labels were still based on the outdated RDAs from 1968. In 2016, the Food and Drug Administration published changes to the regulations including updated RDIs and DVs based primarily on the RDAs in the current DRI. Daily Values used by the FDA for the following macronutrients are Daily Reference Values. FDA issued a Final Rule on changes to facts panel on May 27, 2016. The new values were published in the Federal Register. New values can be used on labels now. The original deadline to be in compliance was July 28, 2018, but on September 29, 2017 the FDA released a proposed rule that extended the deadline to January 1, 2020 for large companies and January 1, 2021 for small companies. In the interim, products with old or new facts panel content will be on market shelves at same time. The following table lists the old and new DVs based on a caloric intake of 2000 kcal (8400 kJ), for adults and children four or more years of age. For vitamins and minerals, the old RDIs and new RDIs (old and new adult 100% Daily Values) are given in the following table, along with the more recent RDAs or AIs (marked with an asterix) of the Dietary Reference Intakes (maximized over sex and age groups, excluding women who are pregnant or lactating): The RDI is derived from the RDAs, which were first developed during World War II by Lydia J. Roberts, Hazel Stiebeling and Helen S. Mitchell, all part of a committee established by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to investigate issues of nutrition that might 'affect national defense' (Nestle, 35). The committee was renamed the Food and Nutrition Board in 1941, after which they began to deliberate on a set of recommendations of a standard daily allowance for each type of nutrient. The standards would be used for nutrition recommendations for the armed forces, for civilians, and for overseas population who might need food relief. Roberts, Stiebeling, and Mitchell surveyed all available data, created a tentative set of allowances for 'energy and eight nutrients', and submitted them to experts for review (Nestle, 35). The final set of guidelines, called RDAs for Recommended Dietary Allowances, were accepted in 1941. The allowances were meant to provide superior nutrition for civilians and military personnel, so they included a 'margin of safety'. Because of food rationing during the war, the food guides created by government agencies to direct citizens' nutritional intake also took food availability into account.