DELIBERATIONS AND EVALUATIONS OF THE APPROACHES, END-POINTS AND PARADIGMS FOR BORON, CHROMIUM AND FLUORIDE DIETARY RECOMMENDATIONS

The 10th edition (1989) of the Recommended Dietary Allowances provided estimated safe and adequate daily dietary intakes (ESADDI) for chromi um and fluoride and summarized the substantial evidence for boron esse ntiality in animals. New endpoints, approaches and paradigms to use to formulate dietary guidance for these elements were reviewed by a disc ussion group that met as part of a national workshop. Deliberations of the group are summarized to facilitate future discussions on dietary guidance for these elements. The category, ''provisional RDA'' was rec ommended to replace the current ESADDI category because of the ambigui ties associated with the ESADDI. A provisional RDA would be defined fo r a dietary substance that meets one of two sets of criteria: class 1, clear evidence of essentiality but uncertain or limited quantitative data or endpoints to define dietary requirements; and class 2, strong evidence of essentiality, and clear nutritional benefit based on reaso nably certain quantitative data, but lack of clear information on func tion or endpoints to use for deficiency dietary requirements. A summar y of background information and possible approaches for assigning prov isional RDAs for boron, chromium and fluoride is presented.