Nutrient requirements and optimisation of intakes.

In 1991, dietary reference values were published in the UK. These refer to nutrients and provide the basis for dietary advice. To complement this, practical food-based guidance on how to plan a healthy and balanced diet has been developed. Interest continues in how best to establish guidance which helps individuals modify their diets so as to better match the dietary targets established as a means of promoting health and avoiding disease. Furthermore, in recent years, interest has grown in the potential to optimise nutrition and so promote health and well-being, rather than just avoiding deficiency. This has been accompanied by an awareness that many foods, particularly plant foods, contain substances that may have health promoting properties but are not, as yet, regarded as conventional nutrients.