Showing papers on "Reference Daily Intake published in 1980"

Frequency distributions of mean daily intakes of food energy and selected nutrients obtained during nutrition surveys of different groups of people in Great Britain between 1968 and 1971.

Abstract: 1. Nutrition surveys were made in Great Britain between 1968 and 1971 of 1321 pre-schoolchildren aged 6 months to 4.5 years, 321 primary schoolchildren (10–11 years), 178 secondary schoolchildren (14–15 years), 792 secondary schoolchildren (14–15 years), 435 women in the second trimester of pregnancy, 443 elderly people (65–74 years), 384 elderly people (75 years and over). 2. The studies included a 7 d weighed dietary record and all subjects except some of the pre-schoolchildren were medically assessed for evidence of malnutrition. Among the children there were no clinical signs of undernutrition, 4% of the boys and 7% of the girls were described as obese. In the survey of elderly people 3% were malnourished but in each case malnutrition was associated with clinical disease. 3. Percentage frequency distribution curves of mean daily intakes (averaged for 7 d) were obtained for total food energy, total protein, animal protein, fat, carbohydrate, calcium, iron, retinol, thiamin, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, pyridoxine, vitamin C and vitamin D. 4. Comparison of the distribution of food energy intakes with 1969 recommendations (Department of Health and Social Security, 1969) showed that the mean of the distribution was less than the 1969 recommendation for energy. From the age of 12 months, results indicated that males had larger intakes of food energy than females. 5. Comparison of the distributions for protein, Ca, Fe, retinol, thiamin, riboflavin and vitamin C with the recommendations for these nutrients revealed that appreciable numbers of people had intakes less than the recommendations without signs of malnutrition.

Assessing dietary intake and its relation to growth in British children.

Abstract: Attempts to relate the quality of diet to growth in British children are plagued by two persistent anomalies. In the first, workers have found no consistent relationship between individual intake and growth. The biggest eaters are not necessarily the biggest individuals. As Widdowson said in 1947, ‘the present study has been unable to bring to light the laws which relate the height, weight, size and surface area of any one person to his calorie intake or calorie requirement’. We are still very much in the dark. The second anomaly relates to groups of individuals from different social classes. The average energy and nutrient intakes amongst children from the manual social classes (111 manual, IV and V) tends to be higher than that of children from non-manual classes (I, I1 and 111 non-manual) (Widdowson, 1947; Bransby & Fothergill, 1954; Department of Health and Social Security, 1975; A. E. Black, unpublished results), while at the same time manual workers’ children are on average shorter than non-manual workers’ children (Durnin et al. 1974; Department of Health and Social Security, 1975; A. M. Thomson, unpublished results). It is this second anomaly that I wish to try and resolve. Briefly, the limited information available in Britain suggests that the quality of the social and physical environment mediates the effectiveness of diet in promoting growth and health. The use of a common standard (e.g. the recommended dietary intake; RDI) to assess dietary adequacy in different environments does not take into account these differences in dietary effectiveness. By dividing the population into two subgroups using a suitable parameter of environmental quality (e.g. social class), and by assessing diet and growth in these two groups independently, the second anomaly can be resolved, as we shall see. First we must consider how diet and growth are best assessed.

The dietary survey and the assessment of food intake in the pre-school child. A review.

Abstract: To obtain an accurate record of an individual's food intake in the assessment of his nutritional status is a difficult task. To obtain such a record for an infant is more difficult still, involving the close cooperation between the investigator and the infant's mother. Why there has been little progression in methodology from the earliest days of recording individual food intakes is discussed and areas of improvements are suggested. Accuracy could be improved if techniques were streamlined and objectives more clearly defined. Dietary surveys could provide data of value to other workers in the field by using conventions in data collection and in the reporting of results.

'Recipe', a computer program for calculating the nutrient contents of foods.

Abstract: The paper describes a computer program which calculates the amounts of each of 39 nutrients in a food, presented to it as a list of ingredients. Allowances can be made for losses of water and vitamins on cooking. The recipe can be compared with other foods already listed in the food tables. Other comparisons can also be made in terms of percent recommended daily intake. The new food may be retained as an addition to the food tables.