The following HTML text is provided to enhance online
readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly
to HTML. Please use the page image as the authoritative form to
ensure accuracy. DRI DIETARY REFERENCE INTAKES: Applications in
Dietary Assessment address appropriate uses of the DRIs for
planning diets of groups and individuals. THE CONCEPT OF DIETARY
REFERENCE STANDARDS In 1941, the Food and Nutrition Board first
proposed the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for the U.S.
population “to serve as a goal for good nutrition and as a
‘yardstick’ by which to measure progress toward that goal...”
(NRC, 1941, p. 1). Even today, the many specific uses and
applications of dietary reference standards fall into the two
general categories defined implicitly in 1941: diet assessment
and planning. Diet assessment applications involve determining
the probable adequacy or inadequacy of observed intakes (a
yardstick by which to measure progress). Diet planning
applications involve using dietary reference