Acceptable daily intake: Encyclopedia - Acceptable daily intake

Acceptable daily intake

Acceptable Daily Intake or ADI is a measure of a specific substance (usually a food additive) in food or drinking water that can be ingested over a lifetime without an appreciable health risk. ADIs are expressed by body mass, usually in milligrams per kilograms of body mass.

This concept was first introduced in 1957 by the Council of Europe and later the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Health Organization.

An ADI value is based on current research, with long-term studies on animals and observations of humans. First, a No Observable (Adverse) Effect Level, the amount of a substance that causes no toxic effects, is determined. Then, the NOEL (or NOAEL) is scaled by a safety factor, usually 100, to account for the lack of positive reliability on animal testing and possible differences in sensitivity in the human population. The ADI is usually given in mg per kg body weight per day. Note that the ADI is considered a safe intake level for the healthy adult of normal weight who consumes the average amount of the substance in question, not for small children or weak persons.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Acceptable daily intake", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki