PLANNING Unit RECOMMENDED DIETARY ALLOWANCE AND MEAL - - RECOMMENDED DIETARY ALLOWANCES AND MEAL PLANNING The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) is the guideline stating the amount of nutrients to be actually consumed in order to meet the requirements of the body. Evolution of Recommended Dietary Allowances (Indian Council of Medical Research- ICMR For Indian Population) Following the recommendations of the League of Nations in , an attempt to recommend dietary allowances for energy, protein, iron,calcium, vitamin A, thiamine, ascorbic acid and vitamin D for Indians was made in by the Nutrition Advisory Committee of the Indian Research Fund Association, now called Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Between and , in the wake of recommendations for energy and protein requirements by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and based on the international data provided by the FAO/ WHO expert groups and those available in India, the recommendations for dietary requirements were revised. A few years later, a newer set of data were generated by various researches and surveys conducted by renowned institutions like Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women – Deemed University, Coimbatore, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad.
ICMR and National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB), created a necessity to revise RDAs further. In an expert committee constituted by ICMR modified the reference body weight for Indian adults and RDAs in respect of energy fat, vitamin D and vitamin A. Recommendations on the safe intake of fat in terms of both visible and invisible dietary fats were made. For the first time, recommendations for certain trace elements, electrolytes (sodium and potassium), magnesium and phosphorus, vitamin K and vitamin E and dietary fibre were considered.
A number of approaches such as • Dietary intake of nutrients • Growth • Nutrient balance • Minimal loss of nutrients and • Nutrient turnover were utilized in arriving at the RDAs. Difference between Requirement and Recommended Dietary Allowances The req uirement for a particular nutrient is the minimum level that needs to be consumed to perform specific functions in the body