• GRAINS/BREADS and/or MEAT/MEAT ALTERNATES:
Select ONE serving from EACH of these components to equal:
one GRAINS/BREADS
-and-one MEAT/MEAT ALTERNATE
OR select TWO servings from ONE of the these components to equal:
two GRAINS/BREADS
-and-two MEAT/MEAT ALTERNATES
• If you are using the optional extra age/grade group for the Enhanced system (Grades 7–12), serve one additional serving of Grains/Breads.
GRAINS/BREADS:
You can serve one of the following food items or combine them to meet the requirements.
Ages Pre- Grades Grades
1–2 yrs school K–12 7–12*
(a) Whole-grain 1/2 1/2 1 serv 1 serv
or enriched bread serv serv
(b) Whole-grain or 1/2 1/2 1 serv 1 serv
enriched biscuit, roll, serv serv
muffin, etc.
(c) Whole-grain, 1/4 c 1/3 c 3/4 c 3/4 c
enriched, or fortified or or or or
cereal 1/3 oz 1/2 oz 1 oz 1 oz
MEAT/MEAT ALTERNATE
You can serve one of the following food items or combine them to meet the requirements.
Ages Pre- Grades Grades
1–2 yrs school K–12 7–12*
Meat, poultry, 1/2 oz 1/2 oz 1 oz 1 oz
or fish
Cheese 1/2 oz 1/2 oz 1 oz 1 oz
Egg (large) 1/2 egg 1/2 egg 1/2 egg 1/2 egg
Peanut butter 1 Tbsp 1 Tbsp 2 Tbsp 2 Tbsp
or other nut or seed butters
Cooked dry 2 Tbsp 2 Tbsp 4 Tbsp 4Tbsp
beans or peas
Yogurt 2 oz or 2 oz or 4 oz or 4 oz or
1/4 cup 1/4 cup 1/2 cup 1/2 cup
Nuts and/or seeds** 1/2 oz 1/2 oz 1 oz 1 oz
• MILK (Fluid):
As a beverage or on cereal or both.
Ages Pre- Grades Grades
1–2 yrs school K–12 7–12*
1/2 cup 3/4 cup 8 fl oz 8 fl oz
• JUICE/FRUIT/VEGETABLE:
Include a minimum of one serving. You can serve a fruit or vegetable or both; or full-strength fruit or vegetable juice.
Ages Pre- Grades Grades
1–2 yrs school K–12 7–12*
1/4 cup 1/2 cup 1/2 cup 1/2 cup
*Optional extra age/grade group for the Enhanced system. Recommended but not required.
**No more than 1 oz of nuts and/or seeds may be served in any one meal.
Figure 5.2 (continued )
Current regulations for on-site facilities often mandate that the RDAs (recom-mended daily allowances), as defined by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine, be used as a guide for ensuring that menus are nutritionally sound. The RDAs specify nutrient levels for various age groups by gender. The RDAs were initially developed as a guide to evaluate and plan for the nutritional adequacy of groups, including the military and children participating in school lunch programs. They were never intended to be used to assess individual needs—a situation that has resulted in confusion and misuse for more than 50 years. It was for this reason that a process was initiated in 1993 to replace the RDAs with a set of four nutrient-based reference values that are intended for use in assessing and planning diets. This set is referred to as the Dietary Reference Intakes.
Dietary Reference Intakes. The Food and Nutrition Board first considered redefining the RDAs in 1993. In 1995, a subcommittee, referred to as “The Dietary Reference Intake Committee,” announced that a panel of experts would review major nutrient and other important food components. Reports with recommenda-tions were first released in 1997 and continued through 2004. The intent was to redefine nutrient requirements and establish specific nutrient recommendations for groups and individuals.
The results of the committee’s work is a comprehensive package of four guide-lines, including the RDAs, which account for various needs among individuals and groups. Figure 5.3 provides the definitions of the four components of the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs). Specific information on nutrient values, uses, and inter-pretations of the DRIs is available through the Food and Nutrition Board IOM of the National Academies. Table 5.2 is an example of recommended intakes.
Other guidelines are available, including the U.S. Dietary Guidelines and the Food Guide Pyramid, to assist menu planners in translating nutrient requirements to food items and portion sizes. Each of these guides is depicted in Figures 5.4 and 5.5.
The Food Guide Pyramid is a graphic depiction of the dietary guidelines and was developed to offer a visual outline of what healthy Americans should eat each day.
Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) Levels of intake of essential nutrients considered to be adequate to meet known nutritional needs of practi-cally all healthy persons
Figure 5.3 Definitions.
From: Food Insight, September/October 1998. IFIC Foundation.
DEFINITIONS
Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs): The new standards for nutrient recommendations that can be used to plan and assess diets for healthy people. Think of Dietary Reference Intakes as the umbrella term that includes the following values:
• Estimated Average Requirement (EAR): A nutrient intake value that is estimated to meet the requirement of half the healthy individuals in a group. It is used to assess nutritional adequacy of intakes of population groups. In addition, EARs are used to calculate RDAs.
• Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA): This value is a goal for individuals, and is based upon the EAR. It is the daily dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the nutrient requirement of 97% to 98% of all healthy individuals in a group. If an EAR cannot be set, no RDA value can be proposed.
• Adequate Intake (AI): This is used when an RDA cannot be determined. A recommended daily intake level based on an observed or experimentally determined approximation of nutrient intake for a group (or groups) of healthy people.
• Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL): The highest level of daily nutrient intake that is likely to pose no risks of adverse health effects to almost all individuals in the general population. As intake increases above the UL, the risk of adverse effects increases.
These guidelines, with adaptations for specific ethnic and age groups, are available through the USDA. The menu planner needs to consider carefully the nutrient needs of individuals and groups to be served in order to select the most appropriate menu planning guide.
Food Consumption, Trends, Habits, and Preferences. As stated earlier, the clientele of a foodservice operation is generally composed of individuals from different cultural, eth-nic, and economic backgrounds, most of whom have definite food preferences. The menu planner must keep this in mind when selecting foods to satisfy this diverse group.
Food habits are based on many factors, one of the most direct being the approach to food and dining at home. A family’s ethnic and cultural background, lifestyle, and economic level combine to determine the foods served and enjoyed.
These habits are sometimes passed down from generation to generation. When several different cultural or ethnic backgrounds are represented in the clients of a single foodservice for which a menu is to be planned, the task of satisfying everyone can be challenging indeed.
In today’s mobile society, people are becoming more knowledgeable about ethnic and regional foods. Interest in Mexican, Asian, Italian, and other international foods is evident from the growth of specialty restaurants. Many health care facilities, schools, colleges, and similar foodservices include these foods on their menus to add variety and to contribute to the cultural education of their clientele. The menu planner should be aware of local and regional food customs and religious restrictions. For example, a menu planner should be well aware of kosher and Muslim dietary restrictions.
In addition, the traditional three-meals-a-day pattern, with the entire family eat-ing together, has changed. People eat fewer meals at home. They are eateat-ing more
Table 5.2 Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs): Recommended Intakes for Individuals, Vitamins Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, National Academies
Life Stage
5 75 7 35 550
19–30 y 1,300 120 5* 19 90* 1.4 1.6 17 2.0 500 2.8 7* 35* 550*
31–50 y 1,300 120 5* 19 90* 1.4 1.6 17 2.0 500 2.8 7* 35* 550*
NOTE: This table (taken from the DRI reports, see www.nap.edu) presents Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) in bold type and Adequate Intakes (AIs) in ordinary type followed by an asterisk (*). RDAs and AIs may both be used as goals for individual intake. RDAs are set to meet the needs of almost all (97 to 98 percent) individuals in a group. For healthy breastfed infants, the AI is the mean intake. The AI for other life stage and gender groups is believed to cover needs of all individuals in the group, but lack of data or uncertainty in the data prevent being able to specify with confidence the percentage of individuals covered by this intake.
aAs retinol activity equivalents (RAEs). 1 RAE = 1 μg retinol, 12 μg β-carotene, 24 μg α-carotene, or 24 μg β-cryptoxanthin. The RAE for dietary provitamin A carotenoids is twofold greater than retinol equivalents (RE), whereas the RAE for preformed vitamin A is the same as RE.
bAs cholecalciferol. 1 μg cholecalciferol = 40 IU vitamin D.
cIn the absence of adequate exposure to sunlight.
dAsα-tocopherol. α-Tocopherol includes RRR-α-tocopherol, the only form of α-tocopherol that occurs naturally in foods, and the 2R-stereoisomeric forms of α-tocopherol RRR-, RSR-, RRS-, and RSS-α-tocopherol) that occur in fortified foods and supplements. It does not include the 2S-stereoisomeric forms of α-tocopherol (SRR-, SSR-, SRS-, and SSS-α-tocopherol), also found in fortified foods and supplements.
eAs niacin equivalents (NE). 1 mg of niacin = 60 mg of tryptophan; 0–6 months = preformed niacin (not NE).
fAs dietary folate equivalents (DFE). 1 DFE = 1 μg food folate = 0.6 μg of folic acid from fortified food or as a supplement consumed with food = 0.5 μg of a supplement taken on an empty stomach.
gAlthough AIs have been set for choline, there are few data to assess whether a dietary supply of choline is needed at all stages of the life cycle, and it may be that the choline requirement can be met by endogenous synthesis at some of these stages.
hBecause 10 to 30 percent of older people may malabsorb food-bound B12, it is advisable for those older than 50 years to meet their RDA mainly by consuming foods fortified with B12or a supplement containing B12.
iIn view of evidence linking folate intake with neural tube defects in the fetus, it is recommended that all women capable of becoming pregnant consume 400 μg from supplements or fortified foods in addition to intake of food folate from a varied diet.
jIt is assumed that women will continue consuming 400 μg from supplements or fortified food until their pregnancy is confirmed and they enter prenatal care, which ordinarily occurs after the end of the periconceptional period—the critical time for formation of the neural tube.
Copyright 2004 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
167
Figure 5.4 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005.