Reference intakes infants

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) refer to nutrient intake values estimated to be adequate for 50% of age- and gender-specific groups. As seen in the table below, DRIs are comprised of RDAs in bold type and Adequate Intakes (Als) in ordinary type followed by asterisk ( ). These values may be used as goals for individual intake. RDAs are estimated to meet the needs of most individuals (97% to 98%). For healthy breast-fed infants, the Al represents mean intake. For all other life-stage groups, the Al is believed to cover the needs of all individuals, but a lack of data or uncertainty in the data prevent specifying with confidence with percentage of individuals covered by this intake. 

Reference Intakes for Infants and Children For obvious ethical reasons, there have been almost no experimental studies of the vitamin requirements of infants and children. For infants, it is conventional to use the nutrient yield of breast milk and assume that this is equal to or greater than requirements. Although this is termed an RNI in U.K. tables (Table 1.5), in the U.S./Canadian tables (Table 1.7), it is more correctly referred to as an acceptable intake. 

D supplements are less at risk of developing the disease. It is not known how vitamin D protects against the development of diahetes, hut it may he hy modulation of the differentiation of lymphocytes involved in the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic -islet cells. The protective dose is above current reference intakes and indeed may he above the tolerable upper intake of 25 //g per day for infants (Harris, 2002). 

Dietary intake and synthesis of vitamin D in the skin under the influence of ultraviolet light complement one another. In practice, the Population Reference Intake for adults is 5-10 micrograms/day and for infants and children 10-25 micrograms/day. Colecalciferol 1 microgram = vitamin D 40 lU. 

RDA for vitamin E was increased in the year 2000 by 50% from 10 to 15 mg/day for adults by the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board.Most European reference intakes are related to the polyunsaturated fatty acid intake. The changes in the United States were accompanied by some debate, critics arguing that this amount could not be met by the usual North American diet. For infants up to 6 months, an AI of 4mg/day was proposed, for infants 7 to 12 months an AI of 5mg/day and the RDA for children 1 to 18 years was set at 6 to 15 mg/day, dependent upon age. Another departure in the newer recommendations was that the daily requirement he met by RRR-a-tocopherol alone as the other forms of vitamin E are not converted to a-tocopherol and are poorly recognized by the a-tocopherol transfer protein in the liver. 

Requirements and Reference Nutrient Intakes In the United States, the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) for zinc is 11 mg/day for men and 8 mg/day for women. Infants and young children need smaller amounts. Increased amounts are required during pregnancy and lactation. Strict vegetarians may need as much as 50% more zinc per day because of the increased phytic acid and fiber in their diet, ... 

IV.A), this ion is currently officially recognized as an essential micronutrient for humans (577, 578). The recently published values of Dietary Reference Intakes of Crflll) in the United States and Canada (ranging from 0.2 to 5.5 pg day for infants or from 20 to 45 pg day for adults) (578) are significantly lower than the previously accepted values of Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) (from 10 pg day for infants to 200 pg day for adults) (577). Measurements of Cr(III) contents in food sources suggested that up to 90% of the population in industrialized countries receive less than adequate amounts of dietary Cr(III). These amounts can be further decreased by carbohydrate- and fat-based diets, which promote Cr(III) excretion (3). As the biological activity of Cr(III) has been related to improvements in glucose and fat metabolism (579), the use of... 

Three months later, at a regular out-patient visit, it was decided to cease the biotin supplements. Within a week the abnormal organic acids were detected in his urine again and he was treated with varying doses of biotin until the organicaciduria ceased. This was achieved at an intake of 150 Jg/day (compared with the reference intake of 10—20 ig/day for an infant under 2 years old). 

Reference intakes depend on age and gender. For nutritional labelling of foods it is obviously essential to have a single labelling reference value that will permit the consumer to compare the nutrient yields of different foods. Apart from foods aimed at infants and small children, for which age-related reference intakes are used, there are two ways of determining labelling reference values ... 

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin cofactor for the activation of factors II, VII, IX, and X in the liver. Almost all neonates are vitamin K-deficient at as a result of (1) insignificant transplacental vitamin K crossover, (2) lack of colonization of the colon by vitamin K-producing bacteria, and (3) inadequate dietary vitamin K intake (especially in breast-fed infants because human milk contains less vitamin K than infant formula or cow s milk). Vitamin K-deficiency bleeding (VKDB) refers to bleeding attributable to vitamin K deficiency within first 6 months of life. It occurs in three general time frames early (0-24 hours), classic (1-7 days), and late (2-12 weeks). Early onset occurs rarely and usually is associated with maternal ingestion of anticonvulsants, rifampin, isoniazid, and warfarin. Classic vitamin K-dependent bleeding usually results from the lack of prophylactic vitamin K administration in... 

An added ten-fold safety factor shall be added in setting pesticide reference doses (RfDs) (i.e. acceptable daily intakes) to account for the unique risks faced by infants and children, unless the EPA administrator has solid data supporting a determination that existing RfDs are fully health protective, even for infants and that exposures are fully and accurately characterized and... 

Vitamins occur naturally in many foods and raw materials. However the natural contents are often supplemented in many food products to ensure an adequate intake, for example in infant formulae, breakfast cereals and clinical nutrition products. Vitamins are usually added as nutrients and thus not covered in this chapter but may also be added as food colours (riboflavin, carotenes). The reader should refer to the following references for recent developments in... 

The multielement capabilities of ICP-MS have also been extensively employed for the characterization of human milk in studies aiming at verifying the reference ranges (RRs) proposed for both essential and harmful elements, and contribute to the establishment of RRs for new (ultratrace) elements [63-65]. Transfer of selected elements from food into human milk [66], changes in milk composition during lactation [67], and adequacy of the intakes of essential trace elements in breast-fed infants [63, 68] are some of the other topics investigated in related studies. For those infants who are not breast-fed, the nutritional... 

Beriberi occurs whenever thiamine intake is less than 0.4 mg/d for an extended period of time. It occurs where polished rice is a dietary staple, and, in Western society, in poor and elderly populations and alcoholics. Beriberi has wet, dry, and cardiac types, and an individual may have more than one type. Wet refers to pleural and peritoneal effusions and edema dry refers to polyneuropathy without effusions. Cardiomyopathy is the principal feature of the cardiac type. An infantile form occurs in breast-fed infants, usually 2-5 months of age, nursing from thiamine-deficient mothers. The symptoms of beriberi remit completely upon thiamine supplementation. A subclinical deficiency of thiamine occurs in hospital patients and the elderly. Deficiency of thiamine and other vitamins may contribute to a generally reduced state of health in these populations. 

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