- © 2004 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
I commend Eric Wooltorton1 for alerting Canadian physicians to the potential of health risks with excessive consumption of some vitamins and minerals. However, the recommended intakes listed in Table 1 of that article do not reflect dietary reference intake (DRI) values,2 which should be used as the dietary standards for Canadians. Furthermore, there is no mention of tolerable upper level (TUL) intakes, which have been developed as part of the DRI initiative (a collaborative project involving Health Canada and the Food and Nutrition Board of the US Institute of Medicine).3,4,5 The TUL is “the highest level of daily nutrient intake that is likely to pose no risk of adverse health effects to almost all individuals in the general population.”6 The TUL values can serve as guides for health care professionals in educating patients about the possible health risks of excessive consumption of specific nutrients.
Stephanie Atkinson Department of Pediatrics Faculty of Health Sciences McMaster University Hamilton, Ont.
References
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