Full Title: Nutritional Research Series: Advancing the Role of Evidence-based Reviews in Nutrition Research and Applications
Volume 2: Issues and Challenges in Conducting Systematic Reviews to Support Development of Nutrient Reference Values: Workshop Summary
March 2009
Nutrient reference values have significant public health and policy implications. This report discusses decisions related to how values are defined.
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Abstract
Nutrient reference values have significant public health and policy implications. Given the importance of defining reliable nutrient reference values, there is a need for an explicit, objective, and transparent process to set these values.
The Tufts Medical Center Evidence-based Practice Center assembled a group of nutrition experts from academic institutions and Federal Government agencies, led participants in discussions, conducted exercises in formulating questions and evidence review criteria that would be amenable to systematic reviews of the scientific literature, performed a literature search on the questions to identify potentially relevant publications, and identified challenges and limitations of applying this method to support the development of nutrient reference values, using vitamin A as an example.
The workgroup concluded that the systematic review approach could be productively used to inform the development of reference values. Challenges identified in this exercise include prioritizing and defining research questions when the volume of literature is large, relying on intermediate (surrogate) outcomes when few or no studies directly linked nutrient intake with clinical outcomes are available, and determining reliable nutrient biomarkers. Ultimately, an objective, unbiased systematic review of a defined question could be useful; not only in helping to set nutrient reference values, but also for increasing the transparency of the decisionmaking process.
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Nutritional Research Series, Volume 2: Issues and Challenges in Conducting Systematic Reviews to Support Development of Nutrient Reference Values: Workshop Summary
Evidence-based Practice Center: Tufts EPC
Topic Sponsor: Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health
Current as of March 2009
Internet Citation:
EPC Technical Papers Series: Advancing the Role of Evidence-based Reviews in Nutrition Research and Applications. Volume 2: Issues and Challenges in Conducting Systematic Reviews to Support Development of Nutrient Reference Values: Workshop Summary, Structured Abstract. March 2009. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/nutritn2tp.htm
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