New Nutrition Guidelines to Be Recommended

FOR RELEASE: (Print & Broadcast) Mon., April 14, 2:00 p.m., PDT
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NEW NUTRITION GUIDELINES TO BE RECOMMENDED

Upper safe levels and average requirements may join familiar RDAs

SAN FRANCISCO, April 14 -- The familiar RDA (recommended dietary allowance) numbers that are the basis for nutrition labels are under review and may be revised, according to a paper to be presented today at the American Chemical Society's 213th national meeting in San Francisco. In addition, the new standards will be supplemented with upper safe limits for nutrient intakes as well as estimates of the average requirement for each nutrient, says Dr. Janet King, director of the USDA's Western Human Nutrition Research Center in San Francisco. King is a member of the Dietary Reference Intake Committee for the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, which is responsible for developing these standards. The Academy will begin publishing its recommendations later this year.

King says the current review is "much more extensive than what we've ever done in the past." This is because the new RDAs will include upper safe limits for nutrients -- useful ceilings for intakes by people who use dietary supplements -- as well as estimated requirements. (King says the RDA is a standard that meets the needs of 97 percent of the population, while the average requirement meets the needs of 50 percent.) Reviewers also plan for the first time to make use of "evidence that nutrients play a role in preventing or reducing risk for chronic disease as well as maintaining good nutritional health," King says. In the case of calcium, for example, the current RDA ensures that a person's intake of calcium makes up for the amount their body loses in excreta each day. The revised RDA will take into account the amount needed to maintain a healthy bone density appropriate for age and gender.

The first new numbers to be issued will probably involve nutrients related to bone health, including calcium, vitamin D, phosphorous, magnesium and fluoride, says King. Another committee has been formed to handle the B vitamins, including B6, B12, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, folic acid and choline.

Choline is representative of another new direction the nutrition gurus are taking. "We will be looking very closely at the literature for components of food like choline, lecithin, beta-carotene and other components to decide whether we need to set standards for dietary intake of these substances -- even though they haven't been identified as essential for life," King says. "However, these substances do appear to be important for maintenance of health."

As in the past, the new nutritional requirements will be based on a review of published scientific literature.

AGFD 60 will be presented at 2 p.m., Mon., April 14, in Plaza A, Lobby Level, San Francisco Hilton. The national meeting of the American Chemical Society will be held in San Francisco April 13-17. This paper is among the 7,700 presentations that will be made.

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The American Chemical Society, founded in 1876, is the world's largest scientific society, with more than 151,000 members.