Editing Reference Daily Intake (section)

== History ==
[[File:Dietary Reference Intakes.svg|thumb|Dietary Reference Intakes]]
The RDI is derived from the RDAs, which were first developed during [[World War II]] by [[Lydia J. Roberts]], [[Hazel Stiebeling]] and [[Helen S. Mitchell]], all part of a committee established by the U.S. [[National Academy of Sciences]] to investigate issues of nutrition that might "affect national defense" (Nestle, p 35). The committee was renamed the Food and Nutrition Board in 1941, after which they began to deliberate on a set of recommendations for a standard daily allowance for each type of [[nutrient]]. The standards would be used for nutrition recommendations for the armed forces, civilians, and overseas populations who might need food relief. Roberts, Stiebeling, and Mitchell surveyed all available data, created a tentative set of allowances for "energy and eight nutrients", and submitted them to experts for review (Nestle, p 35). The final set of guidelines, called RDAs for Recommended Dietary Allowances, was accepted in 1941. The allowances were meant to provide superior nutrition for civilians and military personnel, so they included a "margin of safety". Because of food rationing during the war, the food guides created by government agencies to direct citizens' nutritional intake also took food availability into account.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

The Food and Nutrition Board subsequently revised the RDAs every five to ten years. In 1973, the FDA introduced regulations to specify the format of nutrition labels when present, although the inclusion of such labels was largely voluntary, only being required if nutrition claims were made or if nutritional supplements were added to the food. The nutrition labels were to include percent U.S. RDA based on the 1968 RDAs in effect at the time. The RDAs continued to be updated (in 1974, 1980 and 1989) but the values specified for nutrition labeling remained unchanged.<ref name="iom-2010-history">{{cite book | title=Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols: Phase I Report | chapter=2 History of Nutrition Labeling | author=Institute of Medicine | date=2010 | doi=10.17226/12957 | chapter-url=https://www.nap.edu/read/12957/chapter/4 | publisher=The National Academies Press | pmid=24983042 | isbn=978-0-309-15827-5 }}</ref>

In 1993, the FDA published new regulations mandating the inclusion of a [[nutrition facts label]] on most packaged foods. Originally the FDA had proposed replacing the percent U.S. RDAs with percent daily values based on the 1989 RDAs but the Dietary Supplement Act of 1992 prevented it from doing so. Instead, it introduced the RDI to be the basis of the new daily values. The RDI consisted of the existing U.S. RDA values (still based on the 1968 RDAs as the FDA was not allowed to change them at the time) and new values for additional nutrients not included in the 1968 RDAs.<ref name="iom-2010-history"/>

In 1997, at the suggestion of the [[Institute of Medicine]] of the National Academy, the RDAs became one part of a broader set of dietary guidelines called the [[Dietary Reference Intake]] used by both the United States and Canada. As part of the DRI, the RDAs continued to be updated.

On May 27, 2016, the FDA updated the regulations to change the RDI and Daily Values to reflect current scientific information.<ref name=fda16/><ref name=FedReg/> Until this time, the Daily Values were still largely based on the 1968 RDAs. The new regulations make several other changes to the nutrition facts label to facilitate consumer understanding of the calorie and nutrient contents of their foods, emphasizing nutrients of current concern, such as [[vitamin D]] and [[potassium]].<ref name=fda16/> The revision to the regulations came into effect on 26 July 2016 and initially stipulated that larger manufacturers must comply within two years while smaller manufacturers had an additional year.<ref name="fda16">{{cite web | url=https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm385663.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227212814/http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm385663.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 27, 2014 | title=Changes to the Nutrition Facts Label | publisher=United States Food and Drug Administration | work=FDA Labeling and Nutrition | date=May 20, 2016 | access-date=20 May 2016}}</ref><ref name="iom-2010-history"/><ref>{{cite journal | title=Food Labeling: Revision of the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels | journal=Federal Register | date=May 27, 2016 | id={{Federal Register|81|33741}} }}</ref> On May 4, 2018, the FDA released a final rule that extended the deadline to January 1, 2020, for large companies and to January 1, 2021, for small companies.<ref name="FDA rule 20180504" /> During the first six months following the January 1, 2020 compliance date, the FDA worked cooperatively with manufacturers to meet the new Nutrition Facts label requirements and did not focus on enforcement actions regarding these requirements during that time.<ref name="FDA nutrition label" />