From left to right, Marta Cuervo, Alfredo Martínez and Itziar Abete, professors at the University of Navarra and co-authors of the book. PHOTO: Manuel Castells

The Spanish Federation of Nutrition, Food and Dietetics Societies (FESNAD) has just presented the book "Dietary Intakes of reference letter (IDR) for the Spanish population". Edited by this association, with the sponsorship of the Chair Tomás Pascual Sanz-University of Navarra, it is an unpublished work in Spain on the nutritional needs of population groups, by age and gender.  

Alfredo Martínez and Marta Cuervo, professors at the University of Navarra and co-authors of the book, point out that in most countries there is a single Dietary Intake of reference letter for the entire population, while in Spain there are several references offered by various groups of research. goal "The purpose of this work is to bring together all the proposals so that we have a single DRI that we can improve together," they say.

The RDI is the daily intake average that covers the nutritional requirements of healthy people, from agreement to their age and gender, also including special situations such as pregnancy and breastfeeding, in which there is a greater risk of nutritional deficit. They are expressed in amount of nutrients per person per day, which does not indicate the need to ingest that exact amount. "It is complicated for a per diem expenses to cover the recommended daily intakes of all nutrients. For this reason, it is recommended to evaluate weekly or even fortnightly diets," says dietician-nutritionist Marta Cuervo.

Regarding the problems derived from an inadequate intake, he emphasizes that they are specific to the nutrient: "An iron deficit will cause anemia or a calcium deficit, osteopenia. As for nutritional excesses, the most frequent is that of energy, the consequence of which in the short-medium term deadline will be overweight and in the long term deadline, obesity".

First phase of the project

The publication of this book is the first phase of a project promoted by the FESNAD in which the RDIs of various European countries, the World Health Organization and the Institute of Medicine of the United States have been compared, as well as the methodologies for obtaining these values. The project will culminate with the elaboration final of Spanish RDIs, once all the programs of study values have been collected and compared with those of other countries.

Alfredo Martínez is director of the high school of Food Sciences of the University of Navarra, president of FESNAD and director of the Chair Tomás Pascual Sanz-University of Navarra. The dietitian-nutritionist and doctor Marta Cuervo is a researcher at department of Food Sciences, Physiology and Toxicology and professor at Degree of Human Nutrition and Dietetics at campus of Pamplona.