Nutrients

Essential Nutrients

Essential nutrients include:

1. energy-yielding nutrients, also referred to as the macronutrients: carbohydrate, fat, and protein.
2. micronutrients: vitamins, minerals
3. water. Fiber is famous for its beneficial health effects but not listed in essential nutrients. The reason is that most fiber pass through the body unabsorbed, and omitting it from the diet does not reliably cause a specific deficiency disease.

##Nutrient Recommendations

1. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) : a set of five lists of values for measuring the nutrient intakes of healthy people in the US and Canada. The lists are
   • Recommended Dietary Allowances(RDA): nutrient intake goals for individuals; the average daily nutrient intake level that meets the needs of nearly all (97 to 98 percent) healthy people in a particular life stage and gender group.
   • Adequate Intakes(AI): nutrient intake goals for individuals set when scientific data are insufficient to allow establishment of an RDA value and assumed to be adequate for healthy people.
   • Tolerable Upper Intake Levels(UL): the highest average daily nutrient intake levels that are likely to pose no risk of toxicity to almost all healthy individuals of a particular life stage and gender group.
   • Estimated Average Requirements(EAR): nutrient values used in nutrition research and policy making and the basis upon which RDA values are set; the average daily nutrient intake estimated to meet the requirement of half of the healthy individuals in a particular life stage and gender group.
   • Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges(AMDR): values for carbohydrate, fat, and protein expressed as percentages of total daily caloric intake; ranges of intakes set for the energy-yielding nutrients that are sufficient to provide adequate total energy and nutrients while minimizing the risk of chronic diseases.
2. Estimated Energy Requirement(EER): The average dietary energy intake predicted to maintain energy balance in a healthy adult of a certain age, gender, weight, height, and level of physical activity consistent with good health.
3. Daily Values: nutrient standards used on food labels and on grocery store and restaurant signs. It reflect the highest level of nutrient need among all population groups, from children of age 4 years through aging adults.