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Hello, my name is Anja and I
am a scientist working at
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EFSA in the area of nutrition.
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Today I am going to talk
to you about what we do
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at EFSA with respect to
Dietary Reference Values.
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“An apple a day keeps
the doctor away”.
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As this well-known saying
suggests, we have long known that
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some foods have health benefits
and help to prevent diseases.
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Awareness of the importance
of good nutrition has risen in recent years.
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There is now consensus
among scientists
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that poor diets and
low levels of physical activity
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can lead to a number
of chronic conditions,
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such as obesity, cardiovascular
disease, type 2 diabetes,
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cancer and even cognitive
diseases like dementia.
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Humans need many different
nutrients if they are to stay
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healthy and reduce the risk
of diet-related disease.
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A nutrient is a component
of food such as protein,
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carbohydrate, fat, vitamins,
minerals, and water.
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Each nutrient has particular
functions in the body.
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Energy-providing macronutrients
such as carbohydrate, fat and protein,
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are needed in
relatively large quantities.
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We need micronutrients, such
as minerals and vitamins,
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in relatively small quantities.
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The amount of each nutrient
needed to maintain health
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is called the
nutrient requirement.
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It is related to a person’s age,
gender, level of physical activity,
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genetic background,
dietary pattern
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and physiological
status such as pregnancy.
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For example, women of childbearing
age need more iron than men.
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Also, some people absorb
or utilise nutrients less
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efficiently and so have
higher nutrient requirements.
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For example, vegetarians
take up iron less well from the diet
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than people who eat meat and thus
vegetarians need more iron in their diet.
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All this information is taken into account
when setting Dietary Reference Values.
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Dietary Reference Values are
nutrient intake values
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derived to protect people’s health.
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They state the amounts of macro
– and micronutrients that should be ingested
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by healthy people, from
infants up to the elderly.
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EFSA’s nutrition experts have
set Dietary Reference Values
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for the intake of carbohydrate,
dietary fibre, fat,
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protein, energy, and water
by European citizens.
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For example, they concluded that
a daily intake of 25 grams
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of dietary fibre is adequate for
normal bowel function in adults.
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They also considered that
the intake of certain fatty acids
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– namely saturated fatty acids
and trans fatty acids
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– should be as low as possible to limit
the risk of cardiovascular disease.
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So how do EFSA’s nutrition experts
tackle this task?
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Based on published scientific literature,
they assess the relationship between
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intake of a nutrient,
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the nutrient status of the body,
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and the relation to human health.
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