Sunday, December 14, 2025 | 11:14 PM ISTहिंदी में पढें
Business Standard
Notification Icon
userprofile IconSearch

Indian men, women now taller but still fall short of optimal standards

Study suggests increase in optimal weight reflects height gain

indians, office, gender, workplace, workers, employees, women, height, health, nutrition, urban
premium

A reference body weight represents what is optimal for age and sex of an apparently healthy representative population

Ritwik Sharma New Delhi
Last month, a National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) report was headlined in the media as an increase in the “ideal” weight of Indians. The decadal report, titled “Nutrient Requirements for Indians 2020: Recommended Dietary Allowances & Estimated Average Requirements”, raised the “reference body weight” for men by 5 kg to 65 kg. But unlike what was widely reported, the reference weight for women has not been increased and remains 55 kg. In 2010, NIN had raised the reference weight for women by 5 kg to 55 kg.

What does it mean in layman terms?

A reference body weight represents what