The Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) and Queal meals.
November 29th 2018
Welcome to our second Impacts blog, in which we’ll talk about the term RDI and its connection to Queal and Queal meals.
To start off this post, it might be important to first tell you about what the term RDI means. Later on, we’ll tell you how it relates to health and what it means or could mean in terms of your (Queal) diet. Compared to last months impacts-post, these effects are more internal and personal than integral.
RDI stands for Recommended Daily Intake and is the replacement term for the former RDA, which stood for Recommended Daily Allowance. The reason for this change in terminology was to frame the recommendations as a guideline, rather than an upper limit.
In Europe, the RDI gets updated every five years or so. This happens by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), an organization that keeps track of all scientific research that is done in the field of nutrition. With these insights as a starting point, the EFSA yearly updates the Dietary Reference Values (DRV), on which - eventually - the RDI is based.
Why we think it’s important.
The RDI is “the average daily level of intake sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97% - 98%) healthy people". Intake there is the consumption of food and beverages.
Linked to diet in general, the RDI is set up to help people meet their nutritional goals and to maintain their health. It translates a lot of scientifical, nutritional research into clear and general guidelines. And although these guidelines may not be 100% applicable to everyone, as we’re all different in age, height, weight and lifestyles, they tell us about the basics of proper nutrition: One of the principles of a healthy and happy life if you’d ask us.
Why it’s important for you.
So, as stated above, the RDI is a set of guidelines for nutrition. This means that - as a healthy person - you should strive to meet these levels as it’s considered to be necessary for the maintenance of your health.
So, if we’d look at food (and beverages) as intake, and at a balanced intake as a means to reach and maintain your optimal state of health, you could say that figuring out in which way you could meet your RDI is peanuts. Especially when we think of the accessibility of all different kinds of foods and information we have nowadays. Still, food also has its emotional and social aspects. Which is great, as it should have, but also contributes to us humans not focussing on what we need, but more on what we want or on what we simply can.
The overall broader accessibility of cheap sugary foods, fast foods, foods rich in saturated fats and/or simply ignorance has led some of us to a state of poor nutrition, which is dangerous. Why? Because it can not only lead to overweight or even obesity, it’s also a risk for developing diseases such as heart- and vascular disease, diabetes type 2 and even some types of cancer.
Also a poor diet can lead to micronutrient malnutrition, caused by a dietary deficiency of certain vitamins and/or minerals. And while you might think this is related to eating too less and maybe even being underweight, it can also happen by eating too much or simply “wrong”.
So... as you can read above, meeting your RDI is important. And not only for your inner health, a proper diet or balanced intake can significantly contribute to your energy levels and mental health too.
What we have accomplished so far.
A big part of the reason we started Queal was to be able to fight this nutritional imbalance and maybe even deficiencies. By providing simple and fast, but proper nutrition we want to help people making better food choices.
Our Ready instant oat meal, Steady shakes and Go bars are extremely low effort, but still provide you with a balanced profile of carbohydrates, proteins and good fats and at least 20% of the RDI of all essential vitamins and minerals.
Our newest 5.0 recipe is based on the latest RDI & DRV as set out by the EFSA.
If you’re wondering what your current use of Queal products means to your RDI, then please visit our customers Dashboard. Here, you can track your average use of Queal products and then discover your personal progress.
Take a look at the dashboard
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