Yesterday we saw that the recommended dietary intakes during pregnancy and lactation (and during the rest of the vital stages) are not the same in all countries. We also pointed out the convenience of unify criteria for the nutritional recommendations to be the same In all places.
This makes sense because of the role that nutrition recommendations fulfill (or should fulfill). If a child, a woman during pregnancy or in old age needs a certain amount of calcium, the lack of it could have negative consequences for their health, so that more care could be taken in feeding to reach the reference values.
This, in a context in which vitamin supplements are the order of the day and markets supply us with abundance, seems easy. But it is not so simple in developing countries or in certain sectors of the population.
Let's see what are the main differences between the reference values and why it is convenient to unify these nutrition recommendations.
Differences between countries
In the tables with the reference values appears the necessary amount of nutrients for different population groups, as we saw yesterday in the case of pregnancy and lactation. But neither the types of nutrients (vitamins, minerals ...), nor the population sectors included, nor the methodology used to determine the quantities, nor the periodicity of the published reviews are the same.
Even, just talking about pregnancy and breastfeeding, some countries make distinctions between trimesters, and others (most) encompass it in a single stage. What is the most convenient?
So we are not just talking about iron data in nursing mothers we referred to yesterday. We talk about values during pregnancy, in adolescence, in old age or in childhood ... Why in one country will a child need more calcium than in another? Why does the period of adolescence not be taken into account in this other country? Why the analyzed nutrients are not always the same? With what criteria are the different recommendations made?
What are the dietary reference intakes for?
The usefulness of the nutritional reference recommendations is very broad. They can be used in the planning and evaluation of individual and collective diets, in the interpretation of consumption, in the development of food production programs and of norms of nutritional education, in the elaboration and design of new foods and even in the labeling of some alimentary products.
But, fundamentally, the reference nutrient intake values have the ultimate goal The health promotion: focus not only on the prevention of risks associated with nutrient deficits, but also on the prevention of chronic and degenerative diseases.
After having read and analyzed the document that makes a comparison of the Dietary Reference Intakes (IDR) of the different countries of the European Union, the United States and the World Health Organization, it is concluded that, Given this heterogeneous context, it is necessary to reach an agreement between all the organisms and scientific societies involved in the task of determining the recommended amounts of nutritional intakes.
Of course, they should review the criteria by which the various recommendations have been developed, in order to establish unique reference values for all countries, with the consensus of all.
It is certainly an ambitious goal, but necessary. And not so much for our context of overabundance in which, despite everything, we do not usually feed in the most correct way, but also to take into account and meet the needs of the most disadvantaged population.
But, for all cases, reference values for nutrients are the basis for the development of food guides based on food, whose main objective is to allow the general population to maintain a good state of health and a good quality of life in the long term.
In short, given the multiple functions of these reference values basically related to people's health, it seems necessary, as far as possible and taking into account the contextual differences that will determine differences in performance, Unify nutrition recommendations for different stages of life all over the world.
