Nutrient Reference Values – Public Consultations

Frequently asked questions

Nutrient Reference Values

What is the purpose of the NRVs and why are they important?

The Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) are guidelines that describe how much of each nutrient – like sodium or vitamin B6 – people need to stay healthy. They are used by health professionals to assess and plan diets for individuals and groups, ensuring that people get enough nutrients for normal growth, development, and functioning, while also avoiding excessive intakes that could be harmful. NRVs are tailored to different life stages and physiological needs, such as childhood, pregnancy, and older age, making them a practical tool for targeted nutrition advice.

NRVs play a crucial role in informing public policy and population health strategies. They underpin national dietary guidelines, food fortification programs (like adding iodine or folic acid to bread), food labelling, and nutrition education campaigns. Policymakers use NRVs to monitor the nutritional status of the population, identify at-risk groups, and develop interventions to address public health issues related to nutrition. By providing a scientific foundation for both individual nutrition and public health decision making, NRVs help to improve the overall health of the population and reduce the burden of diet-related diseases in Australia and New Zealand.

Do the NRVs describe individual nutritional requirements?

The NRVs are developed based on averages for groups, and therefore they describe population-level recommendations. Although they provide a guide for assessing the likelihood that a person’s nutritional needs are being met, the NRVs are not a precise measure of individual needs, which may be higher or lower than the values shown. Individual requirements vary depending on genetics, health status, activity level, developmental stage and other factors.

Sodium

What do the different Sodium NRV recommendations represent, and how are they calculated?

The NRVs include different types of recommendations, each designed to support a particular aspect of health. For sodium, these include:

• Adequate Intake (AI): the average daily intake level considered sufficient to meet nutritional needs and maintain health in a healthy population.
• Chronic Disease Risk Reduction (CDRR): the average daily intake level expected to reduce the risk of chronic disease in a population. This value is currently called the Suggested Dietary Target (SDT). However the current consultation proposes that this name will be replaced with the term CDRR.
• Upper Level (UL): the highest average daily intake level likely to pose no adverse health effects for almost all individuals in the general population. A UL is only established where there is sufficient evidence of harm resulting from excessive intake.

These values are developed by reviewing scientific evidence on the relationship between nutrient intake and health outcomes to determine how much of a nutrient is required to maintain and optimise health. When there isn’t enough evidence to derive a recommendation directly for a particular group (such as children), recommendations may be adapted from another group (such as adults). This adaptation uses mathematical formulas that account for the differences in nutritional needs between the groups, ensuring the values are as appropriate as possible for each population.

What happens if you consume too much or too little sodium?

Sodium is an essential nutrient that helps the body maintain fluid balance and supports normal nerve and muscle function. Consuming too little sodium can affect these important functions, although sodium deficiency is rare in healthy people eating a typical diet.

Sodium is most commonly found in salt (sodium chloride). Consuming too much sodium over time can increase blood pressure, which raises the risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke. The sodium NRVs provide guidance on intake levels that support health and help reduce these risks. Many people in Australia and New Zealand consume too much salt in their diet.

What changes are proposed under the revised recommendations?

Recommendations for adults (including during pregnancy and breastfeeding), children, and adolescents have been reviewed. Infant NRVs have not been reviewed as part of this review.

The current recommendations for sodium comprise:

• Adequate Intake (AI) recommendations for ensuring adequate sodium intake
• A Suggested Dietary Target (SDT) for adults, specifying a daily average nutrient intake that may help to prevent chronic disease
• An Upper Level (UL) of intake for children and adolescents, reflecting the highest average daily sodium intake that is likely to pose no adverse health effects in almost all individuals.

The main changes proposed include:

• Changing the AI from a range to a single value to make the recommendation easier to interpret and more reflective of the level of intake considered adequate for most people within the general population
• Renaming the term SDT to Chronic Disease Risk Reduction (CDRR), consistent with the revised methodological framework and international terminology. The current SDT for adults will be retained as a CDRR.
• Establishing a CDRR value for children and adolescents and revising the UL to ‘not set’. These changes better reflect that the primary concern with high sodium intake is an increased risk of chronic disease over time, rather than toxicity from excessive intake.

The draft recommendations also include recommendations for additional age groupings for children, aligned with school level, which facilitate comparison against intakes reported in national surveys. A slight adjustment to adult age groups is also proposed, aligned with Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting.

What are the new recommendations for achieving sodium adequacy?

The proposed revisions to sodium Adequate Intake (AI) values replace the current range with a single value aligned with the upper bound of current recommendations:

• for adults the AI is 920 mg per day, including during pregnancy or lactation in people aged 14 years and older;
• for children, the AI depends on age (for example, 400 mg per day for 1 to under 4-year-olds, 600 mg per day for 4 to under 9-year-olds, 800 mg per day for 9 to under 14-year-olds, and 920 mg per day for those aged 14 years and over).

The draft recommendations also introduce additional age groupings for children, including categories that align with school level, and a slight adjustment to adult age groups.

What are the new recommendations for sodium Upper Levels (UL) or to reduce the risks of chronic disease?

The revised recommendations retain the current Suggested Dietary Target of 2,000 mg per day for adults, although the value is being renamed to Chronic Disease Risk Reduction (CDRR). For children and adolescents, a CDRR value will be established, with values varying by age group:

• 1 to under 4 years: 950 mg per day
• 4 to under 9 years: 1,250 mg per day
• 9 to under 14 years: 1,750 mg per day
• 14 to under 18 years: 2,000 mg per day.

The current Upper Levels (UL) for children and adolescents will be replaced with a statement that the UL could not be set, in line with the approach taken for adults.

This change supports greater consistency in the recommendations for children and adults and better reflects the primary concern with high sodium intake, which is an increased risk of chronic disease over time rather than toxicity from excessive intake.

Vitamin B6

What do the different Vitamin B6 NRV recommendations represent, and how are they calculated?

The NRVs include several different types of recommendations, each with a specific purpose. These values are calculated by reviewing scientific studies on how much of a nutrient is needed to maintain health, prevent deficiency, and avoid harmful effects from excess (toxicity).

The Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) and Adequate Intake (AI) are designed to ensure people get enough of a nutrient to support normal growth and health, but they serve slightly different purposes. Because people’s nutritional needs can differ due to factors like age, sex, health status, and activity level, the NRVs include both an EAR and an RDI to account for this natural variation within the population.

The EAR is the daily amount of a nutrient estimated to meet the needs of half of the healthy people in the Australian and New Zealand population. The RDI is set higher than the EAR, at a level that is sufficient for nearly everyone (97–98% of healthy people) in the population. An AI is used as a recommended nutrient intake level when there is not enough evidence to establish an EAR and RDI.

By providing both values, the NRVs allow health professionals to assess the likelihood of deficiency in groups (using the EAR) and to set a safe target for individuals (using the RDI). This approach helps ensure that dietary recommendations are both practical for population health and flexible enough to guide individual dietary planning.

The Upper Level (UL) aims to prevent harmful effects that may occur when too much of a nutrient is consumed. It represents the highest intake of a nutrient that is likely to pose no adverse health effects for almost all people within the population.

These values are determined by reviewing scientific research on how much of a nutrient is needed to maintain good health, as well as how much could be excessive. In situations where there isn’t enough data for a particular group (such as children), recommendations may be adapted from another group (such as adults). This adaptation uses mathematical formulas that account for the differences in nutritional needs between the groups, ensuring the values are as appropriate as possible for each population.

What happens if you consume too much or too little vitamin B6?

Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin that our bodies need in small amounts to stay healthy. It is naturally present in many foods. It is also added to some foods, and available in dietary supplements. It helps the body use nutrients from food, supports the brain and nervous system, helps make red blood cells, and supports normal immune function.

Not getting enough vitamin B6 is rare. It can lead to skin problems, anaemia, seizures and problems with mood, memory and thinking.

Having too much vitamin B6, usually from supplements rather than food, can damage the nerves and cause symptoms such as tingling, numbness, pain, balance problems and difficulty walking.  That’s why it’s important to have the right balance of vitamin B6 in the diet.

Why are the vitamin B6 NRVs being revised?

The original NRVs for vitamin B6 were published in 2006. Since that time, concerns have been raised over people developing a nerve condition (peripheral neuropathy) from taking too much vitamin B6 through supplements. Rules are changing about warning labels needed for supplements containing higher levels of vitamin B6, and where they can be sold. Also, some international NRVs for vitamin B6 have been recently updated, lowering the level of vitamin B6 intake considered safe. This highlights the need to reassess the adequacy of existing Upper Level (UL) recommendations for vitamin B6 for Australia and New Zealand.

What changes are proposed under the revised recommendations?

The current (2006) vitamin B6 NRVs include:

• Adequate Intakes (AIs) for infants
• Two recommendations for achieving nutritional adequacy and preventing vitamin B6 deficiency – the Estimated Average Requirements (EAR) and Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI)
• Upper Levels (UL) that should not be exceeded to prevent harmful effects from excess vitamin B6.

The main changes proposed relate to the UL, with the EAR and RDI unchanged. Changes include:

• lower Upper Level (UL) recommendations for all age groups

There are also additional categories of age groups aligned with school levels. These can be used to report against usual intake estimated in national surveys. The values for children are calculated from adult levels based on a proportion of weight, adjusting for additional needs for growth where required. AIs for infants were not reviewed in this update.

What are the new recommendations for preventing vitamin B6 deficiency?

The proposed recommendations for preventing deficiency are largely unchanged from current recommendations as they were not reviewed in this update.

The draft recommendations introduce additional categories of age groupings for children, including categories that align with school level, and a slight adjustment to adult age groups.

What are the new recommendations for vitamin B6 Upper Levels (UL)?

The draft recommendations introduce a lower Upper Level (UL) for vitamin B6, consistent with recent international vitamin B6 guideline updates. The revised UL recommendations are as follows.

Age	UL (mg/day)
Infants
0–12 months	Not possible to establish; source of intake should be breast milk, formula or food only.
Children & Adolescents
Males
1 to under 4 years	4.5
4 to under 9 years	6.5
9 to under 14 years	10.0
14 to under 18 years	14.0
Females
1 to under 4 years	4.0
4 to under 9 years	6.5
9 to under 14 years	10.0
14 to under 18 years	12.5
Adults
18 years and older	14.0
Pregnancy & Lactation
Pregnancy (all ages)	14.0
Lactation (all ages)	14.0

Why has the Vitamin B6 UL been reduced?

The Upper Levels (UL) have been lowered across population groups from 50mg/day to 14mg/day for adults, based on recently updated international guidance. The UL was revised in response to concerns about nerve damage from high supplemental vitamin B6 intakes. Changes to rules around warning labels needed for supplements containing higher levels of vitamin B6, and where they can be sold are being introduced in response to these issues.

Why are there additional age groups for children?

New UL, EAR and RDI recommendations for additional age groupings have been added that align with school levels to accommodate reporting against usual dietary intake by Australian Bureau of Statistics.