Understanding how closely the dietary patterns of Americans align with Federal nutrient recommendations is important for promoting optimal health and reducing the risk of chronic disease. Diet quality indices are tools that evaluate this concept, but most indices only measure dietary intake from foods and beverages. Despite this, a significant proportion of U.S. adults and children use dietary supplements routinely, which contribute large amounts of nutrients to users and can help address nutrient gaps. National nutrition monitoring data shows that many Americans are unable to meet nutrient needs from the diet alone. For this reason, dietary intakes from all sources, including foods, beverages, and dietary supplements must be taken into consideration to accurately understand micronutrient exposures among Americans. Therefore, this webinar describes current intakes of micronutrients from all sources (foods, beverages, dietary supplements) and how dietary supplements contribute to total intakes among Americans. Additionally, this webinar also introduces a dietary quality metric that examines the quality of intakes from all sources, and lastly, highlights research demonstrating how micronutrient intakes of Americans align with Federal nutrition recommendations across the life course and where gaps in nutrient intakes may still exist.
CPE Level: 2
CPEU: 1
Learning Objectives
- Describe total usual micronutrient exposures among the U.S. population and demonstrate the role of dietary supplements in meeting nutrient needs.
- Introduce the Total Nutrient Index (TNI), a micronutrient-based diet quality index designed to assess adherence to the U.S. Dietary Reference Intakes.
- Identify the micronutrient quality of total usual nutrient intakes, as assessed via the TNI, among the U.S. population by life stage.