EFSA REVIEW MICRONUTRIENT INTAKE

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is reviewing recommendations for intake of all micronutrients ie vitamins and minerals.  The EURopean micronutrient RECommendations Aligned (EURRECA) is a Network of Excellence funded by the European Commission, which has established a rationale for deciding which micronutrients are in most urgent need of review. The EURRECA team have concluded that three criteria are important:
1. There should have been a large amount of new evidence published since any previous review and this should be based on the best evidence available, especially randomised controlled human trials.
2. Nutrients which have high public health relevance should be looked at more urgently than others. This is where current intakes are considered inadequate either relative to recommended intakes or due to poor status, and the evidence demonstrates an association with a high burden of common conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer or osteoporosis.
3. Priority should be given to those nutrients whose current recommendations vary widely.
These criteria have been applied by the EURRECA team across several population groups - infants, children and adolescents, adults, pregnant and lactating women, elderly, people with low income and immigrants.    The 10 nutrients identified as being in most urgent need of review are: vitamin D, iron, folate, vitamin B12, zinc, calcium, vitamin C, selenium, iodine and copper.
(Source: IADSA Newsflash)