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TECHNICAL REPORT
Approved: 4 December 2017
doi: 10.2903/sp.efsa.2017.e15121
Dietary Reference Values for nutrients
Summary report
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
Abstract
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 deliberations for 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.
Key words: dietary reference values; nutrients; macronutrients; micronutrients
Requestor: EFSA
Correspondence: nutri@efsa.europa.eu
www.efsa.europa.eu/publications EFSA Supporting publication 2017:e15121
DRVs summary report
Suggested citation: EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), 2017. Dietary reference values for
nutrients: Summary report. EFSA supporting publication 2017:e15121. 92 pp.
doi:10.2903/sp.efsa.2017.e15121
© European Food Safety Authority, 2017
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
www.efsa.europa.eu/publications 2 EFSA Supporting publication 2017:e15121
DRVs summary report
Preface
Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) is an umbrella term for the complete set of nutrient reference values
which include the 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). They are set on the assumption that the requirements for energy and all
other nutrients are already satisfied. DRVs also include the tolerable upper intake levels (ULs), which
represent the maximum average daily intake level of nutrients considered to be unlikely to pose a risk
of adverse health effects. DRVs are key concepts in the nutrition field. They provide the scientific basis
on which nutrition recommendations are built. They are the references used in dietary assessment
and diet planning, at the population and individual level. They also serve as the basis for setting
reference values in food labelling, and in establishing food based dietary guidelines. For these
reasons, they will be helpful to health professionals, scientists, risk managers, policy makers, industry
and many more.
In 2005, the European Commission asked EFSA to review the advice of the Scientific Committee for
1
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 (EFSA NDA Panel, 2010a). 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
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vitamins and 13 minerals.
EFSA DRVs opinions share a common structure, which reflects the process by which DRVs are set.
Initial sections provide background information on the nutrient under consideration, addressing its
chemistry, functions, physiology and metabolism, its interaction with other nutrients, as well as a
review of available biomarkers of intake and status. Data on sources of the nutrient and its intake in
European countries are then summarised, gathered from national reports or derived from EFSA
3 4
Comprehensive European Food Consumption database and Food Composition database. Each
opinion also compiles an overview of DRVs and recommendations set by other bodies. The Panel then
reviews existing literature on the physiological needs of the nutrient, as well as its association with
health outcomes, including the risk of chronic diseases, in order to identify criteria on which to base
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the DRVs. Finally, the Panel integrates the available evidence and derives DRVs, where possible.
Because of the length of the individual opinions, it is impractical to publish them as a single report.
Therefore, the present summary report puts together the summaries of the individual opinions,
together with synthetic tables and annexes. It provides an overview of the outcome of EFSA’s
scientific deliberations for 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
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opinions.
Many gave their time and energy to the DRVs opinions: EFSA and its NDA Panel are heartily grateful
to all of them. Over the past 12 years, WG members on DRVs and NDA Panel members were involved,
with a special tribute to Albert Flynn and Ambroise Martin, former chairs of the NDA Panel. This
project would not have been completed without the dedication, commitment and high level of
1 SCF (Scientific Committee on Food), 1993. Nutrient and energy intakes for the European Community. Reports of the Scientific
Committee for Food, 31st Series. Food - Science and Technique, European Commission, Luxembourg, 248 pp
2 The assessments of sodium and chloride are on-going and are meant for publication in 2019. An update of this summary
report will be published once they become available.
3 http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/food-consumption/comprehensive-database
4 https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/data/food-composition
5 At the time the task was initiated, an opinion on tolerable upper intake levels for vitamins and minerals had already been
published (http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/science/nda/nda_opinions.html). Therefore, ULs for micronutrients are not
addressed in the scientific opinions compiled in the present report.
6 A link to the full opinion is provided at the beginning of the summary for each individual nutrient.
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DRVs summary report
expertise of the EFSA Nutrition Unit, in particular Juliane Kleiner, Leng Heng, Anja Brönstrup, Céline
Dumas, Lucia Fabiani, Jelena Gudelj Rakic, Agnès de Sesmaisons Lecarré and Silvia Valtueña Martínez,
as well as the trainees and interim staff who have been involved. The support of other EFSA Units, in
particular the Evidence Management and Assessment and Methodological Support Units, needs to be
acknowledged as well. EFSA NDA Panel also wants to extend its gratitude to stakeholders for their
contribution during the public consultations on DRVs opinions, and to European Commission’s
Directorate General Santé. Every individual involved in reviewing, interpreting and translating scientific
evidence into DRVs made a substantial contribution to public health and to the science and practice of
nutrition.
Dominique Turck
Chair of the NDA Panel
Valeriu Curtui
Head of EFSA Nutrition Unit
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