Dietary reference intakes: cases of appropriate and inappropriate uses.

The dietary reference intakes (DRIs) are a set of reference intake levels for nutrients that can be used for planning diets and assessing nutrient inadequacies of individuals and groups. Since the publication of the DRI reports 1997-2004, the reference intake levels have been used for various purposes. While DRIs have been used appropriately for planning and assessing diets for many different situations, there have been instances in which specific DRI categories have not been applied as intended. In this review, cases are described in which DRIs were applied correctly, as well as cases from the growing number of examples in which the wrong DRI was used or DRIs were used incorrectly.