News on DRVs – things are changing

Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) describe the distribution of requirements for energy and nutrients in a population.

SACN hs recommended

Daily calorie requirements for men go up from 2550 to 2650 and for women from 1940 to 2079.

These recommendations are for healthy people with BMI of 22.5 – average in UK os BMI of 27.

The bigger you are the more calories you require as there is more tissue and bulk.

Teenagers accordeing to evidence need more calories as they have higher level of activity.

Pregnancy remains at just uner 200 calories a day for the last 3 months of pregnancy and breastfeeding burns 335 calories a day.

Most of our daily calorie intake is needed to keep us ticking over and maintain body temperature.

They are not recommendations or goals for individuals.

In order to take account of the range of nutritional requirements in a population, there are 3 DRVs:

1. Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) – the average requirement of energy or a nutrient in a group of people, for example, 50 per cent will require less and 50 per cent will require more.
2. Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI) – the amount of a nutrient that is likely to meet the needs of most (97.5 per cent) of the population.
3. Lower Reference Nutrient Intake (LRNI) – the amount of a nutrient that is likely to meet the needs of only a small number (2.5 per cent) of people in the population with low requirements.

RNIs, which are set at the upper end of nutrient requirements, were not set for energy because, unlike other nutrients, an intake of energy in excess of requirements can have adverse effects in terms of weight gain.  Requirements for energy intake will also depend on energy expenditure.  A chronic excess of dietary energy intake over energy expenditure is related to overweight and obesity.  Recommendations for energy were therefore set as EARs for different population groups and were based on estimates of energy expenditure.

The UK DRVs for energy have recently been reviewed by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).
SACN’s report updates the EAR values from the Department of Health’s 1991 report, which may be of relevance for our nutritional analysis programme.

SACN website

A pre-publication version of the report is available on the SACN website and can be accessed at the following link:

http://www.sacn.gov.uk/reports_position_statements/reports/sacn_dietary_recommendations_for_energy_report.html

The report is currently undergoing some minor edits and the title is to change to Dietary Reference Values for Energy.  However, the energy requirements and recommendations detailed in the pre-proof report will not change.  A final version of the report will be published on the SACN website and will also be available in hard copy from The Stationary Office by the end of the year.