Dietary Planning

This report is one of a series of publications resulting from a comprehensive effort initiated by the Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board in 1993 to expand the approach to the development of dietary reference standards. The new categories of reference values have specific uses and thus are a significant departure from the previous Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) in the United States and Recommended Nutrient Intakes (RNIs) in Canada. The focus of this report is to...
More Description

This report is one of a series of publications resulting from a comprehensive effort initiated by the Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board in 1993 to expand the approach to the development of dietary reference standards. The new categories of reference values have specific uses and thus are a significant departure from the previous Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) in the United States and Recommended Nutrient Intakes (RNIs) in Canada. The focus of this report is to examine the appropriate use of each of the available types of Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) values in planning nutrient intakes of groups and individuals.This report should be of particular use to nutrition and public health researchers in their work, to dietitians and nutritionists responsible for the education of the next generation of practitioners, and to the government professionals involved in the development and implementation of national diet and health assessments, public education efforts, and food assistance programs. The report reviews the statistical underpinnings for the application of the various types of DRI values in planning, illustrates sample applications, and provides guidelines to help professionals determine when specific uses are appropriate or inappropriate.Planners need to have a good understanding of the DRIs, including how each requirement was derived, and whether the Tolerable Upper Intake Levels were based on all sources of nutrients or just fortificants and supplements. An understanding of basic statistics is also needed, especially for group planners. Planners must understand the concepts of risk and probability.The term Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) refers to a set of nutrient-based reference values, each of which has special uses. The development of DRIs expands on the periodic reports called Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), which have been published since 1941 by the U.S. National Academies, and the Canadian Dietary Standards, called Recommended Nutrient Intakes (RNIs) published since 1938 by the Canadian government. This comprehensive effort has been undertaken by the Standing Committee on the Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes of the Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, National Academies, at the request of the U.S. government and Health Canada.A previous report in this series (IOM, 2000a) examined the use of DRIs in dietary assessment for individuals and groups. Dietary assessment, whether for an individual or a group, compares usual nutrient intakes with estimated nutrient requirements and examines the probability of inadequate or excessive intake. Dietary planning, on the other hand, aims for the consumption of diets that have acceptably low probabilities of inadequate or excessive nutrient intakes.Dietary planning involves using the DRIs to set goals for what intakes should be. Dietary planning may be done at several different levels. It may refer to an individual planning a meal and making relevant food purchases, a food service manager in an institution planning daily menus, or a government agency planning large nutrition or food assistance programs. For the purposes of this report, dietary planning applies to planning intake, rather than the amount of food purchased or served. Nutritional considerations are only one component of dietary planning. Other considerations include incorporating food preferences of the individual or group being planned for, and the cost and availability of foods. However, using estimates of nutrient requirements to set intake goals should be part of the planning activity.