According to the latest ICMR–NIN recommendations, what is the recommended daily protein intake for a healthy Indian adult?

Appeared in: KPSC Staff Nurse - 2018

Explanation

The latest ICMR-NIN (2020) guidelines recommend a safe protein intake of 0.83 g/kg of body weight per day for healthy adults.
This value is based on high-quality protein consumption and is sufficient to maintain nitrogen balance and support normal physiological functions.
Among the given choices, 0.8 g/kg/day is the closest and most appropriate answer representing the current scientific recommendation.

Option B: This represents the older, outdated recommendation from previous ICMR guidelines.
Option C: This amount is significantly higher than the requirement for a healthy, sedentary adult.
Option D: This is a very high protein intake reserved for specific medical conditions and is not suitable for the general healthy population.

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain ICMR-NIN Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for protein as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
Nurses must use the latest RDA for accurate nutritional assessment and patient education. Using outdated values can lead to incorrect dietary advice.
In clinical practice, assessing a patient's actual protein intake against the RDA helps identify malnutrition risk, especially in hospitalized or elderly patients.
What if the patient is pregnant? The protein requirement increases significantly. During the second trimester, an additional 9.5 g/day is needed, and during the third trimester, an extra 22 g/day is required to support fetal growth.

How to Approach the Question

First, identify the key terms in the question: 'latest ICMR–NIN recommendations', 'protein intake', and 'healthy Indian adult'.
This is a factual recall question. The term 'latest' is a crucial clue, indicating that you need to know the most recent guidelines, as they may have changed.
Recall the updated 2020 ICMR-NIN RDA for protein, which is 0.83 g/kg/day.
Compare this value to the given options. Option A (0.8 g/kg/day) is the closest match.
Eliminate the other options by identifying their context: 1.0 g/kg/day is the old recommendation, and 1.5-2.0 g/kg/day are for conditions with increased metabolic demand.

Concept Tested & Keywords

Concept Tested: ICMR-NIN Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for protein.
Stem keywords: ICMR–NIN recommendations, daily protein intake, healthy Indian adult
Lead-in keywords: what is
Negative lead-in flag: false

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E6 Parks TextBook of Preventive & Social Medicine part 2 — Subpart A (pp 1-232 of 464) p. 170-172

E6 textbook of Applied Biochemistry and Nutrition & DieteticsHarbans Lal (pp 26-464 of 479) p. 270-272

Practise the full KPSC Staff Nurse - 2018

Attempt every question from this paper in a timed mock, then review the full solution for each one.