Human Nutrition 3(3+0)

Lesson 3 : Recommended Dietary Allowances for Nutrients

Phosphorus

The requirements of phosphorus are closely related to those of calcium. It is generally agreed that phosphorus requirements are about 20% higher than calcium requirements. A large part of the phosphorus present in cereals, pulses and nuts is in the form of phytin. Only a small part of phytin phosphorus is available to the human body. Further, phytin phosphorus interferes with the utilization of dietary calcium and iron. Suggested intakes of phosphorus are as follows:

Table 4: RDA for phosphorus

Group	Phosphorus mg/d)
Adult: Men Women	400 400
Pregnancy and lactation	1000
Infants	750
Children: 1-9 years 10- 15 years 16-18 years	400 600 500

Ref: Nutrition Expert group, ICMR(2010)