Dietary Refernce Values
During the 1990's and 2000's expert committees first in the United Kingdom (UK) (Coma; 1991; 1994; 1998; and the European Union (EU) (Scientific Committee on food, 1993) and then North America (Institute of Medicine, (IOM)) 1997;1998;2000;2001;2002; 2004;) and recent;y Australasia , Australian government (National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) began expanding on the conceptual basis of their nation reference value for nutrient intakes.
Dietary Reference values (DRV's) are in general terms used to cover all the figures produced by the Committee on Medical aspects of Food Policy (COMA).
(EAR) Estimated Average Requirement
(LRNI) Lower Reference Nutrient Intake
(RNI) The Reference Nutrient Intake
EAR is the energy or nutrient is the amount which any stated group of people will on average need,
LRNI is enough for approximately 2.5% of the population. It is not enough for most people
RNI is the amount of a nutrient which is enough for at least 97.5% of the population
All DRV's are intended to apply to healthy people; they do not make any allowances for the different energy and nutrient needs imposed by some diseases.