Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Something I wish more people would understand about the RDA!

I am taking an online course from UC Berkeley on Human Nutrition. In the lecture today, I wanted to note something which the professor said.

She was talking about the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance), which can be seen at Nutrition.gov. In reading what the RDA is for, she says "The average daily amount of a nutrient considered adequate to meet the known nutrient needs of practically all healthy people." She goes on to say that there are 3 caveats which need to be taken into consideration to know exactly what the RDA is for. They are as follows:

1) known nutrient needs: "We don't know all nutrient needs"
2) practically all: "This is not guaranteeing it will meet everyone's needs."
3) healthy people: "Does not cover the needs of people who have diseases, who have cancer, who have genetic abnormalities."

The above is something I wish everyone would realize. I hear all too often that the amounts of TNI do not meet (i.e. exceed) the RDA levels. If people would just understand the above, that the RDA is for healthy people and is not for people with genetic abnormalities, I believe it would clear alot of stuff that people say against TNI.

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