Dietary Reference Values for nutrients Summary report

Dietary reference values (DRVs) is an umbrella term for the complete set of nutrient reference values which include population reference intakes (PRIs), the average requirements (ARs), adequate intakes (AIs)  and  reference  intake  (RIs)  ranges  for  macronutrients.  These  values  indicate  the  amount  of  a nutrient  which  must  be  consumed  on  a  regular  basis  to  maintain  health  in  an  otherwise  healthy individual (or population). In 2005, the European Commission asked EFSA to review the advice of the Scientific Committee for Food (SCF) dated 1993 on DRVs for the European population, to ensure that Community action in the area of nutrition was underpinned by the latest scientific evidence. The task was entrusted to the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). The Panel set the foundations  for  this  task  in  an  inaugural  opinion  published  in  2010,  which  addressed  the  general principles for deriving and applying DRVs. A total of 32 scientific opinions were then published over 7 years,  covering  water,  fats,  carbohydrates  and  dietary  fibre,  protein,  energy,  as  well  as  14  vitamins and  13  minerals.  This  summary  report  brings  together  the  summaries  of  the individual  opinions, together  with  synthetic  tables  and  annexes.  It  provides  an overview  of  the  outcome  of  EFSA’s scientific deliberationsfor easy reference by end-users. This report is not meant to replace the original opinions. For the detailed reasoning behind individual values, the reader is invited to consult the full opinions.