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Institute of Medicine (US) Committee to Review Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin D and Calcium; Ross AC, Taylor CL, Yaktine AL, et al., editors. Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011.

Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D.
Show detailsACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
- 25-hydroxyvitamin D
In this report, 25OHD (also referred to as calcidiol or calcifediol); indicates no distinction between D2 and D3 forms. When relevant, forms distinguished as 25OHD2 and 25OHD3.
- 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D
In this report, calcitriol. Ercalcitriol refers to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D2, but in this report, the term “calcitriol” will be used for both.
- 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D
In this report, 24,25(OH)2D.
- AHRQ
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
- AI
- ALTM
All-laboratory trimmed mean
- AMDR
Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range
- ATBC
Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study
- BDI
Beck Depression Inventory
- BMAD
Bone mineral apparent density
- BMC
- BMD
- BMI
- BV
Bone volume
- CCHS
Canadian Community Health Survey
- CDC
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- CG
Control group
- CHMS
Canadian Health Measures Survey
- CI
Confidence interval
- CNF
Canadian Nutrient File
- CPBA
Competitive protein binding assay
- CVD
- CYP
Cytochrome P450
- DBP
Vitamin D binding protein
- DEQAS
Vitamin D External Quality Assurance Scheme
- DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid
- DRI
- DXA
- EAR
- EPIC
European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition
- EPIDOS
Epidémiologie de l'Ostéoporose study
- FGF23
Fibroblast-like growth factor-23
- FN
Femoral neck
- GC
Gas chromatography
- GFR
Glomerular filtration rate
- HPFS
Health Professionals Follow-up Study
- HR
Hazard ratio
- IBD
- IFN
Interferon
- Ig
Immunoglobulin
- IG
Intervention group
- IHD
Ischemic heart disease
- IL
Interleukin
- IOM
Institute of Medicine
- iPTH
Intact parathyroid hormone
- IU
International Unit
- K-MMSE
Mini-Mental State Examination for Koreans
- LC
Liquid chromatography
- LOAEL
Lowest-observed-adverse-effect level
- LS
Lumbar spine
- LSM
Least squares mean
- MAS
- MMSE
Mini-Mental State Examination
- mo
Month(s)
- mRNA
Messenger ribonucleic acid
- MrOS
Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study
- MS
Mass spectrometry; Multiple sclerosis
- MS/MS
Tandem mass spectrometry
- NA
Not applicable
- NCa
Normocalcemic
- NCHS
National Center for Health Statistics
- NCI
National Cancer Institute
- ND
Not determined
- NHANES
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
- NHS
Nurses' Health Study
- NIH
National Institutes of Health
- NIST
National Institute of Standards and Technology
- NOAEL
No-observed-adverse-effect level
- NOD
Nonobese diabetic
- NR
Not reported
- NS
Not significant
- OA
Osteoarthritis
- OC
Oral contraceptive
- OP
- OR
Odds ratio
- OV
Osteoid volume
- PLCO
Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial
- PM
Postmenopausal
- POMS
Profile of Mood States
- PTH
- PTHrP
Parathyroid hormone–related protein
- RA
- RANK
Receptor activator for nuclear factor κ B
- RCT
Randomized controlled trial
- RDA
- RECORD
Randomised Evaluation of Calcium and/Or vitamin D trial
- RIA
Radioimmunoassay
- RNI
Recommended Nutrient Intake
- RR
Relative risk
- SD
Standard deviation
- SE
Standard error
- SEM
Standard error of the mean
- SLE
- SPA
Single-photon absorptiometry
- SPF
Sun protection factor
- SRM
Standard Reference Material
- TB
Tuberculosis; Total body
- Th
T helper
- TH
Total hip
- Tr
Trochanter
- TRPV6
Transient receptor potential cation channel, vanilloid family member 6
- Tx
Treatment
- UK
United Kingdom
- UL
- U.S.
United States
- USDA
U.S. Department of Agriculture
- UV
- UVB
- VDDR
Vitamin D–dependent rickets
- VDR
Vitamin D receptor
- VDRE
Vitamin D–responsive element
- VEGF
Vascular endothelial growth factor
- WHI
Women's Health Initiative
- WWEIA
What We Eat in America
- wk
Week(s)
- y
Year(s)
GLOSSARY
- Achlorhydria
A lack of hydrochloric acid in the digestive juices in the stomach.
- Adenoma
A benign epithelial tumor of glandular origin.
- Adequate Intake
The recommended average daily intake level of a nutrient based on observed or experimentally determined approximations or estimates of intakes that are assumed to be adequate for a group (or groups) of appendixes.app1rently healthy people; used when the Recommended Dietary Allowance cannot be determined.
- Adipokines
Cytokines, growth factors, and other proteins produced and secreted by adipose tissue.
- Adipose tissue
A connective tissue consisting chiefly of fat cells surrounded by reticular fibers and arranged in lobular groups or along the course of one of the smaller blood vessels.
- Amenorrhea
Abnormal suppression or absence of menstruation.
- Anorexia
The symptom of poor appetite whatever the cause.
- Anorexia nervosa
A psychophysiological disorder usually occurring in teenage women that is characterized by fear of becoming obese, a distorted self-image, a persistent aversion to food, and severe weight loss, and that is often marked by hyperactivity, self-induced vomiting, amenorrhea, and other physiological changes.
- Antigen
Any substance that stimulates an immune response in the body.
- Antirachitic
Cures or prevents rickets.
- Asthma
A chronic inflammatory disease of the airways.
- Autism
A complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first few years of life; is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills.
- Biomarker
A biochemical, physiological, behavioral, or other alteration that can be measured in the body or its products that influences, predicts, or is associated with an established or possible outcome, health impairment, or disease.
- Body mass index
An indirect measure of body fat calculated as the ratio of a person's body weight to the square of a person's height:
- Bone mineral content
The hardness of bone results from its mineral content in the organic matrix.
- Bone mineral density
A measure of bone density that reflects the strength of bones as represented by calcium content.
- Calcification
Impregnation with calcium or calcium salts; hardening, as of tissue, by such impregnation.
- Calcinosis
The abnormal deposition of calcium salts in a part or tissue of the body.
- Calcitonin
A peptide hormone, produced by the thyroid gland in humans, that acts to lower plasma calcium and phosphate levels without augmenting calcium accretion.
- Calcitriol
Another name for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D.
- Calcium
A mineral found mainly in the hard part of bones, where it is stored; it is essential for healthy bones and is important for muscle contraction, heart action, nervous system maintenance, and normal blood clotting.
- Calciuria
The presence of calcium in the urine.
- Cancer
A malignant and invasive growth or tumor.
- Cardiovascular disease
Any abnormal condition characterized by dysfunction of the heart and blood vessels; includes atherosclerosis (especially coronary heart disease), cerebrovascular disease, and hypertension.
- Chondrocyte
A connective tissue cell that occupies a lacuna within the cartilage matrix.
- Chylomicron
One of the microscopic particles of fat occurring in chyle (a digestive fluid) and in the blood, especially after a meal high in fat.
- Computed tomography
Tomography used in diagnostic studies of internal bodily structures, in which computer analysis of a series of cross–sectional scans made along a single axis of a bodily structure or tissue is used to construct a three-dimensional image of that structure.
- Creatinine
One of the nonprotein constituents of blood, a breakdown product of creatinine (protein used to make adenosine triphosphate). Increased quantities of serum creatinine are found in advanced stages of renal disease.
- Crohn's disease
A chronic inflammatory disease of the intestines that primarily causes ulcerations (breaks in the lining) of the small and large intestines, but can affect the digestive system anywhere from the mouth to the anus.
- Cut-point
A specified quantitative measure used to demarcate the presence or absence of a health-related condition; often used in interpreting measures obtained from analysis of blood (example: blood measures below “x” ng/mL indicate a deficiency state for Nutrient Y).
- Cytochrome
Any of a class of iron-containing proteins important to cell respiration as catalysts of oxidation–reduction reactions.
- Depression
A condition of general emotional dejection and withdrawal; sadness greater and more prolonged than that warranted by any objective reason.
- Dermis
The sensitive connective tissue layer of the skin located below the epidermis, containing nerve endings, sweat and sebaceous glands, and blood and lymph vessels.
- Diabetes mellitus
A group of metabolic diseases characterized by high blood sugar (glucose) levels that result from defects in insulin secretion or action, or both.
- Diabetes, type 1
An autoimmune disease that occurs when T cells attack and decimate the β-cells in the pancreas that are needed to produce insulin, so that the pancreas makes too little insulin (or no insulin); there is a genetic predisposition to type 1 diabetes, and the disease tends to occur in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood (before age 30), but it may have its clinical onset at any age.
- Diabetes, type 2
Disease in which the β-cells of the pancreas produce insulin but the body is unable to use it effectively because the cells of the body are resistant to the action of insulin; also known as insulin-resistant diabetes, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, and adult-onset diabetes.
- Dietary Reference Intake
A set of four distinct nutrient-based reference values that replaced the former Recommended Dietary Allowance in the United States. These include Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), Adequate Intake (AI), and Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL).
- Dose–response assessment
Determination of the relationship between nutrient intake (dose) and some criterion of either adequacy or adverse effect.
- Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry
Means of measuring bone density with two X-ray beams with differing energy levels aimed at an individual's bones.
- Emesis
The act or process of vomiting.
- Endocrine
Pertaining to hormones and the glands that make and secrete them into the bloodstream through which they travel to affect distant organs.
- Epidermis
The nonvascular outer protective layer of the skin, covering the dermis.
- Ergosterol
A plant sterol that is converted into vitamin D by ultraviolet radiation.
- Estimated Average Requirement
The average daily nutrient intake level that is estimated to meet the requirements of half of the healthy individuals in a particular life stage and gender group.
- Estradiol
The most potent naturally occurring estrogen.
- Etiology
Causes and origins of disease.
- Fibroblast
A cell ubiquitous in connective tissue that makes and secretes collagen.
- Glucocorticoid
Any of a group of steroid-like compounds, such as, that are produced by the adrenal cortex, are involved in carbohydrate, protein, and fat metabolism, and are used as anti-inflammatory agents.
- Hematocrit
The percentage by volume of packed red blood cells in a given sample of blood after centrifugation.
- Homeostasis
A property of cells, tissues, and organisms that allows the maintenance and regulation of the stability and constancy needed to function properly.
- Hormone
A substance, usually a peptide or a steroid, produced by one tissue and conveyed in the bloodstream to another to effect physiological activity, such as growth or metabolism.
- Hydroxyapatite
The principal bone salt that provides the compressional strength of vertebrate bone.
- Hypercalcemia
A higher than normal level of calcium in the blood.
- Hypercalciuria
Excess calcium in the urine.
- Hyperglycemia
A high blood sugar; an elevated level specifically of the sugar glucose in the blood.
- Hypertension/hypertensive
Systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg.
- Hypophosphatemia
Abnormally low concentrations of phosphates in the blood.
- Inflammatory bowel disease
Any of several incurable and debilitating diseases of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by inflammation and obstruction of parts of the intestine.
- Influenza
An acute, commonly epidemic disease occurring in several forms, caused by numerous rapidly mutating viral strains and characterized by respiratory symptoms and general prostration.
- Ligand
An ion, a molecule, or a molecular group that binds to another chemical entity to form a larger complex.
- LOAEL
The lowest intake (or experimental dose) of a nutrient at which an adverse effect has been identified.
- Lumisterol
A naturally occurring compound that is part of the vitamin D family of steroid compounds.
- Macrophage
A type of white blood cell that ingests foreign material.
- Menopause
The state of an absence of menstrual periods for 12 months.
- Metabolic syndrome
Also called insulin resistance syndrome and Metabolic Syndrome X. A group of conditions that increase risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. The five conditions are high blood pressure, high blood sugar levels, high levels of circulating triglycerides, low levels of circulating high-density lipoprotein, and excess fat in the abdominal area.
- Microsome
A small particle in the cytoplasm of a cell, typically consisting of fragmented endoplasmic reticulum to which ribosomes are attached.
- Milk-alkali syndrome
Caused by the ingestion of large amounts of calcium and absorbable alkali with resulting hypercalcemia; if untreated, can lead to metastatic calcification and renal failure.
- Morbidity
Illness or disease.
- Mortality
A fatal outcome; death.
- Multiple sclerosis
A disease in which the nerves of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) degenerate.
- Natriuresis
Excretion of excessive amounts of sodium in the urine.
- Neoplasm
A new, often uncontrolled growth of abnormal tissue; tumor.
- Nephrocalcinosis
Renal lithiasis characterized by diffusely scattered foci of calcification in the kidneys.
- Nephrolithiasis
Calculi in the kidneys.
- NOAEL
The highest intake (or experimental dose) of a nutrient at which no adverse effect has been observed.
- Nutrient
A substance (such as a chemical element or inorganic compound) that an organism needs to live and grow; a substance used in an organism's metabolism that must be taken in from its environment.
- Nutriture
A state of nutrition in the body.
- Osteoblast
A cell from which bone develops.
- Osteoclast
A large multinucleate cell found in growing bone that resorbs bony tissue, as in the formation of canals and cavities.
- Osteocyte
A branched cell imbedded in the matrix of bone tissue.
- Osteogenesis
Formation and development of bony tissue.
- Osteoid
Resembling bone; the bone matrix, especially before calcification.
- Osteomalacia
The softening of bone, the depletion of calcium from bone; may be caused by poor dietary intake or poor absorption of calcium and other minerals needed to harden bones and can be a characteristic feature of vitamin D deficiency in adults.
- Osteopenia
A condition of bone in which decreased calcification, decreased density, or reduced mass occurs.
- Osteoporosis
A condition characterized by a decrease in bone density (a decrease in bone strength that results in fragile bones); leads to abnormally porous bone that is compressible, like a sponge.
- Parathyroid gland
A gland that regulates calcium, located behind the thyroid gland in the neck, which secretes parathyroid hormone.
- Parathyroid hormone
A hormone that is made by the parathyroid gland and that is critical to calcium and phosphorus balance.
- Perimenopause
The interval in which a women's body begins its transition into menopause.
- Periosteal
Pertaining to the periosteum, the membrane covering the bones.
- Phosphate
A form of phosphoric acid; calcium phosphate makes bones and teeth hard.
- Polyuria
The excessive passage of urine, resulting in profuse urination and urinary frequency.
- Preeclampsia
A toxic condition developing in late pregnancy characterized by a sudden rise in blood pressure, generalized edema, proteinuria, severe headache, and visual disturbances that may result in eclampsia (convulsive or coma state) if untreated.
- Previtamin D3
A short-lived intermediate form arising from exposure of provitamin D3 (7-dehydrocholesterol) in the skin to UVB irradiation. Body heat quickly changes previtamin D3 into vitamin D3.
- Prohormone
An intraglandular precursor of a hormone.
- Provitamin D3 (7-dehydrocholesterol)
A provitamin present in the skin of humans as well as the milk of mammals that becomes vitamin D3 when exposed to ultraviolet light.
- Recommended Dietary Allowance
The average daily dietary intake level that is sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all (97.5 percent) healthy individuals in a particular life stage and gender group.
- Rheumatoid arthritis
An autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints.
- Rickets
A disorder caused by a deficiency of vitamin D, calcium, or phosphate, which leads to softening and weakening of the bones and is seen most commonly in children 6 to 24 months of age.
- Sarcoidosis
A disease that results from a specific type of inflammation of tissues of the body that can appear in almost any body organ, often starting in the lungs or lymph nodes.
- Scleroderma
A pathological thickening and hardening of the skin caused by swelling and thickening of fibrous tissue.
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
A chronic, autoimmune, inflammatory disease of connective tissue that causes fever, weakness, fatigue, joint pains, and skin lesions on the face, neck, or arms.
- Tachysterol
An isomer of ergosterol that forms vitamin D2 when irradiated with ultraviolet light.
- Tolerable Upper Intake Level
The highest average daily nutrient intake level that is likely to pose no risk of adverse effects to almost all individuals in the general population. As intake increases above the Tolerable Upper Intake Level, the potential risk of adverse effects may increase.
- Transgenic
Having genetic material (deoxyribonucleic acid) from another species.
- Tuberculosis
A highly contagious infection caused by the bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
- Ultraviolet
Pertaining to electromagnetic radiation having wavelengths in the range of approximately 5 to 400 nm; shorter than visible light, but longer than X-rays.
- Ultraviolet B
Medium wavelength (280 to 320 nm) ultraviolet rays from the sun; help synthesis of vitamin D3; the “burning” rays in the ultraviolet spectrum.
- Vasodilatation
Relaxation or widening of the blood vessels; leads to a lowered blood pressure.
- Vitamin D
Also referred to as calciferol; comprises a group of fat-soluble seco-sterols. The two major forms are vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 (both vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 can be synthesized commercially and may be found in dietary supplements or fortified foods; they differ only in their side chain structure).
- Vitamin D2
Also referred to as ergocalciferol; originates from plants and is found in the human diet.
- Vitamin D3
Also referred to as cholecalciferol; is synthesized in the skin of humans from 7-dehydrocholesterol and is also consumed in the diet via the intake of animal-based foods.
- Vitamin D–resistant rickets
An inherited form of rickets characterized by high concentrations of phosphate in the blood due to defective renal tubular reabsorption of phosphate and subnormal absorption of dietary calcium.
- Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Glossary - Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium an...Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Glossary - Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D
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