The science
44 nutrient targets. Every one checked.
Where every target, food value and cooking loss in ULak Micros comes from, and how a plan is checked against them.
- kcal
- Pro
- Carb
- Fat
- Fib
- A
- B₁
- B₂
- B₃
- B₅
- B₆
- B₇
- B₉
- B₁₂
- C
- D
- E
- K₁
- Fe
- Ca
- Zn
- Mg
- K
- Na
- P
- Se
- Cu
- Mn
- Cr
- Mo
- Leu
- Ile
- Val
- Lys
- Met
- Phe
- Thr
- Trp
- His
- SFA
- MUFA
- PUFA
- ω-6
- ω-3
- Energy and macros 5
- Vitamins 13
- Minerals 12
- Amino acids 9
- Fats 5
Targets: ICMR-NIN 2020 · Foods: IFCT 2017 · Guidelines: DGI 2024
Targets
Every target has a floor and a ceiling.
ICMR-NIN 2020 gives most nutrients three numbers. The estimated average requirement (EAR) is the floor a plan never drops below. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) is the goal. The tolerable upper limit (TUL) is the ceiling a day never crosses.
Below 15 mg is below target. From 15 to 29 mg is close. From 29 to 45 mg is met. Above 45 mg is above the safe limit.
From the ICMR-NIN 2020 summary tables of EAR, RDA and tolerable upper limits.
Set for you.
Age, sex and activity choose your ICMR-NIN group, and your weight sets protein. Pregnancy and breastfeeding add to it.
Met over the week.
Vitamins and minerals are met on the week’s average, as ICMR-NIN defines requirements. Ceilings hold every day.
Status in a shape.
Below target, close, met or above a safe limit: each has its own ring, so it never depends on colour alone.
Food values
Indian food, measured in India.
577 foods come from the Indian Food Composition Tables 2017, published by the National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad, with USDA values for some staples. 449 dishes are built from them, ingredient by ingredient, the way the dish is cooked.1
- Calcium393 mg · 39%
- Folate97 µg · 44%
- Iron7.1 mg · 24%
- Vitamin C74.5 mg · 115%
Share of the day’s RDA for the same woman.
Cooking losses
Counted cooked, not raw.
Food tables describe raw food, and cooking destroys or leaches some vitamins. Each ingredient gets the USDA retention factor for its food group and its dish’s cooking method. Energy, protein, fat and carbohydrate are not adjusted.
- Simmered with its liquid
- Boiled and drained
- Sautéed
- Griddle-cooked
- Steamed
- Roasted
- Grilled
- Raw
| Vitamin C | Folate | Iron | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In a pappuSimmered, liquid eaten | 70% | 75% | 100% |
| In a kuraSautéed | 85% | 85% | 100% |
| Boiled and drainedCooking water thrown away | 60% | 65% | 95% |
USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6: green leafy vegetables boiled with the water used (3006), stir-fried (3015), and boiled in a little water and drained (3004).
Absorption
What the body can actually use.
A plate can hold iron and zinc the body never absorbs. Phytate in grains and pulses binds them; vitamin C in the same meal frees iron. Every day of a plan is checked for both.
Phytate to zinc
15
Above this molar ratio, zinc absorption is low. (WHO/FAO, 2004)
Phytate to iron
1
Above this ratio, iron from plant foods is strongly held back. Under 0.4 is the aim. (Hurrell, 2004)
Vitamin C with iron
25mg
In an iron-rich meal, about this much vitamin C raises iron absorption. (WHO/FAO, 2004)
Fermenting helps: idli and dosa batters lose about half their phytate, and the check counts it that way.
Limits
Some numbers are ceilings.
More is not always better. The planner steers every day under these limits, from the Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 and ICMR-NIN 2020. Added salt is a hard cap: a plan cannot go over it.
Added salt: 5 g a day.
Measured in every salted dish. With high blood pressure, kidney disease or heart failure, 3 g at most.
Added sugar: under 5% of energy.
Sugar, jaggery and honey count against it. The sugar in fruit, milk and vegetables does not.
Saturated fat: under 10% of energy.
The most ICMR-NIN 2020 advises, worked out from your own energy target.
Medicines, checked.
Known drug–food clashes are flagged from a fixed table of sourced rules, whatever else the plan says.
Allergies, by every name.
Peanut is also groundnut, palli and verkadalai. Sesame is gingelly, nuvvulu and til. A food you avoid goes under all its names.
Not from food, said plainly.
Vitamin D, and B₁₂ on a vegetarian diet, are often out of reach from food. We say so. A doctor or dietitian decides on any supplement.
Sources.
Nutrient Requirements for Indians: Recommended Dietary Allowances and Estimated Average Requirements
ICMR-NIN Expert Group on Nutrient Requirements for Indians. ICMR–National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, 2020.
Every nutrient target: the EAR, the RDA or adequate intake, and tolerable upper limits.
Indian Food Composition Tables 2017
Longvah T, Ananthan R, Bhaskarachary K, Venkaiah K. National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), Hyderabad, 2017.
Food values for the 577 foods, including phytate.
Dietary Guidelines for Indians
ICMR–National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, 2024.
Limits on added salt and sugar, the sodium ceiling, and household measures (Annexures I and II).
USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6
US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Nutrient Data Laboratory, December 2007.
Cooking losses for every cooked ingredient.
USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Legacy Release
US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 2018.
Values for some staples.
USDA Table of Cooking Yields for Meat and Poultry
US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.
Cooked weight beside raw grams for meat and poultry.
Vitamin and Mineral Requirements in Human Nutrition, second edition
World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2004.
The phytate-to-zinc ratio, and vitamin C with iron-rich meals.
Phytic acid degradation as a means of improving iron absorption
Hurrell RF. International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research, 2004.
The phytate-to-iron ratio.
A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals
Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, Hill LA, Scott BJ, Daugherty SA, Koh YO. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990.
Energy targets, with your activity.
Known limits.
- Retention factors are averages for US preparations. Indian home cooking, such as pressure-cooking, long simmering and tempering, is matched to the closest process.
- Vitamins D, E and K, pantothenic acid, biotin, selenium, manganese and iodine have no retention factor, so they are counted as they are in the raw food.
- Amino acids and molybdenum have no ICMR-NIN 2020 value. Their targets are an earlier guide, labelled provisional.
- Iodine has values for only some foods, plus iodised salt. It is shown against its target, not planned.
- The checks catch what they are written to catch. They are not a diagnosis, and they do not replace your doctor.
Found a number that looks wrong? Write to [email protected].