The Journal of Nutrition Supplement: Towards Dietary Reference Intakes for EPA and DHA Towards Establishing Dietary Reference

There is considerable interest in the impact of (n-3) long-chain PUFA in mitigating the morbidity and mortality caused by chronic diseases. In 2002, the Institute of Medicine concluded that insufficient data were available to define Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) for eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), noting only that EPA and DHA could contribute up to 10 % toward meeting the Adequate Intake for a-linolenic acid. Since then, substantial new evidence has emerged supporting the need to reassess this recommendation. Therefore, the Technical Committee on Dietary Lipids of the International Life Sciences Institute North America sponsored a workshop on 4–5 June 2008 to consider whether the body of evidence specific to the major chronic diseases in the United States—coronary heart disease (CHD), cancer, and cognitive decline—had evolved sufficiently to justify reconsideration of DRI for EPA1DHA. The worksho