Recommended Dietary Allowances

RDAs (Recommended Dietary Allowances) or RDI (Recommended Dietary Intake) is the “average daily dietary nutrient intake level sufficient to meet the nutrient requirement of healthy individuals in a particular life stage and gender groups”. It means every person is required to take RDI to maintain a healthy lifestyle. If we write RDI in mathematical formula then it will be as mentioned below :-

RDI = Requirement + Safety Margin

Requirement for a particular nutrient is the minimum amount that need to be consumed to prevent symptoms of deficiency and to maintain satisfactory levels of the nutrient in the body.

Safety margin is kept to adjust for variation in requirement from individual to individual, Periods of low intake, nature of diet, cooking losses. In general, a figure of 50% cooking losses are considered.

Characteristics of RDAs

• RDAs are set high enough to meet the needs of almost all healthy people.

• RDAs do not apply to people who are suffering from a disease which influences the nutrient needs.

• Recommended dietary allowance for adults are based on gender, age, body weight and activity level.

• RDAs are energy for adult men and women are based on activity levels.