Dietary Requirements

Balanced diet with adequate amounts of all nutrients is required to remain healthy. This includes adequate amounts of: Proteins Carbohydrates Fats Vitamins and minerals. Each of these nutrients has a definite role to play in maintaining health. Foods have to be processed in the right way to avoid loss of these nutrients from food. For this it is essential to know and practise the right ways of cleaning and cooking food. ARE YOU COOKING RIGHT? Are you washing the fruits and vegetables adequately? Are you washing vegetables after cutting/peeling them? That definitely leads to loss of water-soluble vitamins in your food.  Are you always eating canned/pre-processed stuff even when the fresh alternative is available? Canned stuff generally has preservatives and more Sodium. Canned food may not be the healthiest alternative!  Just take a moment to be introspective and Do it Right! The dietary requirement depends on factors like the age, kind of work the person does, man or woman, whether pregnant/lactating.

	CALORIC REQ.	PROTEIN REQ. IN GRAMS	RETINAL EQUIVALENT OF VIT. A REQ. IN MICROGRAMS
INFANTS 0-5 MONTHS	WT. IN KG MULTIPLIED BY 115	WT. IN KG. MULTIPLIED BY 2.2	420
5 MONTHS-1 YEAR	WT. IN KG MULTIPLIED BY 105	WT. IN KG. MULTIPLIED BY 2.0	400
CHILDREN
1-3 YEARS	1300 KCAL.	23	400
4-6 YEARS	1700 KCAL.	30	500
7-10 YEARS	2400 KCAL.	34	700
MALES
11-22 YEARS	2700-2900 KCAL.	45	1000
23-50 YEARS	2700 KCAL.	56	1000
51 YEARS +	2400 KCAL.	56	1000
FEMALES
11-22 YEARS	2100-2200 KCAL.	46	800
23-50 YEARS	2000 KCAL.	44	800
51 YEARS +	1800 KCAL.	44	800
PREGNANT	+300 KCAL.	+30	+200
LACTATION	+500 KCAL.	+20	+400