New Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are being set by the Institute of Medicine, and represent a new way of defining nutrient intake recommendations. For the first time, the recommendations for the United States and Canada allow the calculation of the probability of adequacy for an individual, and the prevalence of inadequacy for a population. In addition, possible excessive consumption of many nutrients can be evaluated. The goal of this review is to provide a practical guide to the proper uses of the new DRIs when assessing intakes.