[Historical development of dietary recommendations].

The discovery of the preventive action of lemon juice against scorbut led to a first recommendation on dietary intake in 1753. During the tight economic situation of the following century and in face of the economic crisis after the World War I, several concepts of dietary recommendations developed, all of which primarily served to relieve starvation and hunger and to maintain the ability to work of males. Increasing knowledge of human requirements for essential nutrients led to a clear distinction between dietary standards and health policy recommendations. With their first set of Recommended Dietary Allowances in 1941, especially the American Food and Nutrition Board directed concepts towards the improvement and maintenance of health of all people. National and international work on dietary recommendations took place to an increased extent in the 1970s. In face of currently expanding demands on dietary recommendations at present new directives for the revision of the American Recommended Dietary Allowances are discussed.