November Post 2015 - Jenn
Are the Recommended Dietary Allowanced for Vitamins Appropriate for
Elderly People?
The Recommended Dietary Allowances in the United States are
the average daily nutrient intake levels to meet the needs of 97.5% of healthy
individuals in a particular life stage and gender group. Adequate intake of
these nutrients are essential for a good nutritional status, particularly for
elderly women, who are more sensitive to nutritional deficiencies.
A research study completed by Bolzetta et al. (2015) compared
the American, European, and Italian RDAs with the actual daily vitamin intake
of included study participants—286 healthy and physically active older women.
This population was selected as a model of appropriate nutrition in elderly
women given that they had no major diseases, were independent in their ADLs,
and had no known nutritional problems as defined by the inclusion and exclusion
criteria.
The study population’s intake for each micronutrient at the
50th percentile was considered the average requirement and was
multiplied by 1.2 to generate a calculated RDA – a formula derived from the US
Food and Nutrition Board. Study results found that the calculated RDA of the
elderly female participants was higher than the one generally recommended for
adults for vitamin C, vitamin B-12, and vitamin A. The calculated RDAs for riboflavin, folate,
and vitamin B-6 were very similar to the American, European, and Italian RDAs.
The study concluded that it may be wise to recommend higher intakes of vitamins
B-12, A, and C than the present RDAs for the elderly female population based on
current intake of healthy individuals, lower bioavailability of certain
nutrients for older individuals, and rare toxicities for these specific nutrients.
A unique variable in the given study was the comparison of
different countries’ dietary standards. A scientific review completed by
Freeland-Graves and Lee (2012) evaluated the various dietary standards from
around the globe and concluded that consistent international standards were not
clearly defined. Many of these national dietary standards use different
terminology and have diverse recommended intake values to meet the needs of
their population. While it is understood that barriers exist to standardizing
nutrition recommendations on a global basis—such as food availability, cultural
differences, and biological diversity—wide disparity in recommended nutrient
intake values for different populations across the world illustrates the urgent
need for harmonization of dietary standards on a global basis.
The overall purpose of established dietary standards is to
serve as a foundation for healthy living and to prevent disease related to
nutrition deficiencies and toxicities. The article discusses that potential
benefits of reducing the variability and variety among different countries’ dietary
standards would assist in expanding access to food supplies, strengthen the
ability to design and implement nutrition policies, and enhance international
nutrition research.
Certain countries have collaborated to reformulate and
streamline nutrient recommendations for similar geographic regions, such as the
U.S. collaborating with Canada. These collaborations have served as role models
for other countries/regions with fewer resources and research funding. The
achievement of world-wide nutrient-based dietary standards remains a
significant challenge, but the prospect of future benefits to health, research,
and nutrition policy remain promising.
AND Article
Bolzetta, F.,
Veronese, N., De Rui, M., Berton, L., Toffanello, E. D., Carraro, S., & ...
Sergi, G. (2015). Research: Are the Recommended Dietary Allowances for Vitamins
Appropriate for Elderly People? Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, (115)1789-1797.
doi:10.1016/j.jand.2015.04.013S
Supplemental Article
Freeland-Graves,
J. H., & Lee, J. J. (2012). Global multiplicity of dietary standards for
trace elements. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, 26(IX ISTERH
Conference. Trace elements in health and disease: Essentiality, toxicity),
61-65. doi:10.1016/j.jtemb.2012.04.022
posted by Unknown @ 7:52 AM
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