Between October 18–21, this website will move to a new web address (from health.gov to odphp.health.gov). During that time, some functions might not work as expected. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we’re working to make this transition as smooth as possible.

Applying Dietary Reference Intakes in Professional Settings

Health care providers, institutions such as hospitals and nursing homes, governments, and industries use DRIs to develop nutrition plans and programs for individuals and groups.

Important Principles Underlying DRIs

They are standards for the general population:

  • DRIs aren’t meant for people with acute or chronic disease or those who may be malnourished or nutrient deficient.

They refer to average daily nutrient intake over time:

  • Some variation in nutrient intakes from day to day is normal and expected. DRI values represent long-term average intake.

They are set based on a variety of health indicators and outcomes:

  • The specific indicator used as the basis of each DRI value varies according to the nutrient and the type of value.

How to Apply DRIs in a Professional Setting

You can use DRIs to help with a number of different activities, including:

  • Planning diets 
  • Assessing people’s nutrient intakes
  • Developing nutrition education materials for individuals or population groups 

Professionals can refer to “Applying the Dietary Reference Intakes” for guidance on how to use and interpret DRI values. This chapter appears in the report Dietary Reference Intakes: The Essential Guide to Nutrient Requirements, published by the National Academy of Sciences. The full report is available to download in PDF form. 

Dietary Reference Intake Reports

There have been 19 reports issued since 1997. These include:

  • DRIs for nutrients
  • Reports on methodologies, applications, lessons learned, and challenges

Reports on nutrients

Reports on Methodologies, Applications, Lessons Learned, and Challenges