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Nutrients, endpoints, and the problem of proof. Heaney RP. 2008 W. O. Atwater Memorial Lecture J Nutr. 2008 Sep;138(9):1591-5. PMID: 18716155 To sum up, I think that there would be general agreement to the effect that nutrition is important, despite the fact that the still growing number of failed trials of individual nutrients might suggest that no nutrient actually made much of a difference, a conclusion that is absurd on its face and ought to have alerted us to the possibility that there was something wrong with how we were investigating the matter. To provide the proof needed to sustain revised intake recommendations, we shall have to find a design better suited to nutrients than the randomized controlled trial as currently implemented, and we need to develop a series of global indices, nutrient by nutrient, which better capture the polyvalent nature of most nutrients. Perhaps it would be useful for the ASN, in collaboration with concerned governmental entities such as the USDA, to convene a workshop to address these structural issues. Such deliberation may well be arduous and frustrating, but it is terribly important and, in my view, well worth the effort.

Dietary recommendations for vitamin D: a critical need for functional end points to establish an estimated average requirement. Whiting SJ, Calvo MS. J Nutr. 2005 Feb;135(2):304-9. Review. PMID: 15671232 In summary, vitamin D has emerged as a critical nutrient for which there is a compelling health need to establish adequate dietary guidelines in North America and worldwide given the increasing evidence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficient links to risk of chronic disease. We strongly argue that now there are enough data to consider setting an estimated average requirement for vitamin D and to recognize the crucial need for more research to determine the role of vitamin D in noncalciotropic functions and prevention of chronic diseases