Glossary
Reference intake.
Direct answer
A reference intake is a value published by scientific expert bodies stating the amount of a nutrient regarded as sufficient to cover the requirement of a defined group. Reference intakes serve to plan and evaluate rations and are broken down by age, body mass, workload or stage of life.
A reference intake applies to groups and is not a prescription for an individual. Such values carry a safety margin so that the requirement of most members of a group is covered; sitting just below one therefore does not mean being short of the nutrient. Nor does a reference intake mark a boundary with disease.
In horses, reference values are related to body mass and to the work performed, and rest on feeding trials with limited animal numbers. In humans, they are broken down by age, sex and stage of life and rest on a broader body of data. Both systems are revised whenever new investigations appear.
The evidence letter
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