title: [Harmonization for mesoamerican nutrient-based recommendations: regional unification or national specification?].
abstract: Mesoamerica, the area we focus for this paper, is a section of Latin America that extends from Central Mexico to Panama. The deliberations of international committees are the primary bases for their nutrient-based recommendations. To a smaller extent, the unique particularities of the bioavailability for one or another nutrient have been considered. The nutrient recommendations throughout the region are "relatively" uniform and mutually consistent with respect to: iron, iodine and most of the B-complex vitamins. discrepancies exist among the various sets of recommendations for other nutrients. A valid basis of harmonization would not be unification of recommendations across all nationalities, but rather assuring a consistency in the nutrient profile that is recommended provides the nutrient exposures and/or fills the body's reserves as best suits the goals of survival, growth, well-being and function within the ecological niche of the population. That the recommendations for nutrients must be satisfied from foods, foods that are accessible and culturally acceptable, and that approximate the parallel demands of food-based dietary guidelines, add additional constraints onto the process of enunciating the former.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Estudios en Sensoriopatías, Senectud, Impedimentos y Alteraciones del Metabolismo (CESSIAM), Guatemala, Guatemala, Fundación Mexicana para la Salud, Distrito Federal, México.
authors.forename: Noel W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Solomons
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaufer-Horwitz
authors.forename: Odilia I
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Bermúdez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002489:Central America; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards*; D002149:Energy Intake; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D008875:Middle Aged; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D009753:Nutritive Value; D011247:Pregnancy; D012015:Reference Standards