CANADIAN RECOMMENDED NUTRIENT INTAKES UNDERESTIMATE TRUE ENERGY-REQUIREMENTS IN MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN

To examine whether Health Canada's Recommended Nutrient Intakes (RNI) and FAO/WHO/UNU (Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organ ization, United Nations University) values provide accurate indices of true energy requirements, energy expenditure was determined using dou bly labelled water (DLW) over 13 days in a group of 29 middle-aged wom en. Energy intakes were calculated from weighed food intake, and energ y expenditures and intakes were then compared with individual calculat ed RNI requirements. The mean energy requirement as determined by DLW expenditure (9.56 +/- 0.53 MJ/d) was higher (p<0.0001) than reported e nergy intake (7.08 +/- 0.30 MJ/d) and was higher (p<0.004) than RNI me an energy requirement (7.97 +/- 0.18 MJ/d). The mean RNI for energy wa s also lower (p<0.0001) than that derived from FAO data. These results suggest that current Health Canada RNIs are inadequate in predicting the energy needs of Canadian middle-aged women.