Scientific Publication Calls for a Second Look at Setting a DRI for EPA and DHA

By Ricardo Carvajal –      

In June 2008, the Technical Committee on Dietary Lipids of the International Life Sciences Institute sponsored a workshop titled “Towards Dietary Reference Intakes for Omega-3 Fatty Acids.”  A summary of the workshop participants' conclusions is now published in the Journal of Nutrition. The publication contends that the government should reassess data on the health effects of eicosapentaenoic acid (“EPA”) and docosahexaenoic acid (“DHA”) and consider setting a Dietary Reference Intake (“DRI”) for those substances.  (A DRI is a reference value that provides the recommended intake of a nutrient.  DRI’s are set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences.)  The publication, “Towards Establishing Dietary Reference Intakes for Eicosapentaenoic and Docosahexaenoic Acids,” is available here.

In a prior blog posting, we discussed FDA’s proposed rule to prohibit nutrient content claims for EPA and DHA.  That proposed rule is based on FDA’s determination that there is no authoritative statement identifying a reference value for EPA and DHA.  Subsequently, a citizen petition was submitted to FDA that raises several challenges to FDA’s proposed rule.