RECOMMENDED DAILY INTAKES (RDIs)

The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) are nutritional guidelines that were originally established in 1941 by the National Academy of Sciences’ U.S. Food and Nutrition Board.  These RDAs were the basis for the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowances (U.S. RDAs) adopted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  By 1994, the U.S. RDAs were replaced with Daily Values (DV) due to a required change in food product labeling.

Daily Values are made up of two sets of references:  Daily Reference Values (DRVs) and Reference Daily Intakes (RDIs).  DRVs are a set of dietary references that apply to fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, carbohydrate, protein, fiber, sodium and potassium.  RDIs are a set of dietary references based on the RDA for essential vitamins and minerals.  The term RDI has replaced U.S. RDA.

The RDIs reflect the minimum requirements needed to prevent deficiency diseases.  However, the RDIs, do not take into consideration that higher levels of certain nutrients may be beneficial for example, in the prevention of chronic degenerative disease (such as heart disease, cancer and stroke).  For this reason, the RDIs are viewed as being deficient particularly as it relates to key antioxidants such as Vitamin E and Vitamin C.  Instead, Optimal Daily Intakes (ODIs) have been established by industry leaders and better reflect requirements based on recent findings from research and longitudinal studies.