DRIs and Food Labels - Like Learning a New Language!

The DRIs (Dietary Reference Intakes) are a set of nutritional reference values for Canada and the U.S. that apply to healthy people. The main goal of the DRIs is to prevent nutrient deficiencies, decrease your risk of chronic disease and to prevent you from getting too much of one nutrient. The DRIs for most nutrients are split up into four main groups; Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), Adequate Intake (AI) and Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL). When planning your diet you should aim for the RDA because it has been determined to be the average daily nutrient intake level that meets the requirement of 97-98% of the healthy population. For example, the RDA for iron for a healthy female aged 19-50 years of age is 18mg/day. This can be accumulated throughout the day by eating a variety of foods; 1 cup of chilli has 8.8mg of iron and 1/2 a cup of raisins has 1.5mg. To help you reach your RDA for each nutrient you should follow Canada's food guide to healthy eating (more on this later!).

What about food labels? Do they show the RDAs on their labels?

No, the nutrition facts table found on the label of a product has a list of how much energy and nutrients (13 main ones that are required to be listed on every label) are present in 1 serving. These are based on %DV (Daily Value), which tell you how much a serving contributes to your overall intake of various nutrients on the label if you were to consume a 2000 calorie/day diet. A large male could be consuming closer to 2500 calories/day and a small female around 1500 calories/day, so nutrient fact tables are not good sources to plan your diet from. *Remember; always check the serving size when reading a food label! That cereal may not seem so great once you do.