GATE — Life Sciences (XL) with Section U Food Technology · India · IITs and IISc on rotation (2026: IIT Guwahati)
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersNutrient needs, the place of milk in diets across life stages, lactose intolerance and milk allergy, and dairy in public health programmes.
In the exams: ICAR AICE subject 37 Unit 6; GATE XL-U Section 1 (nutrition); ICAR AIEEA-PG group 18 Unit I
How our questions for GATE spread across the units of Human Nutrition & Dairy in the Diet. Difficulty: 12 easy, 51 medium, 0 hard.
| Lactose intolerance and its management | 8 | |
| Malnutrition, school milk and fortification programmes | 8 | |
| Macronutrients and energy requirements | 7 | |
| Recommended dietary allowances | 7 | |
| Protein quality: biological value, PER and DIAAS | 7 | |
| Calcium, vitamin D and bone health | 7 | |
| Milk and dairy in infant, child, adult and elderly diets | 7 | |
| Cow's milk protein allergy | 6 | |
| Dairy fat and cardiovascular health: the evidence and its limits | 6 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
The estimated average requirement (EAR) of a nutrient is the intake that:
C. Meets the needs of half the healthy individuals in a group
EAR = median requirement. RDA/RNI covers 97–98%; UL is the upper safe level; AI is used when an EAR cannot be set.
Further reading: Institute of Medicine, Dietary Reference Intakes
An adequate intake (AI) is set when:
B. Evidence is too weak to set an average requirement
AIs rest on observed intakes of apparently healthy groups and carry more uncertainty than RDAs.
Further reading: Institute of Medicine, Dietary Reference Intakes
Spinach contains much calcium yet supplies little absorbable calcium because it is rich in:
D. Oxalate
Oxalate binds calcium into insoluble salts. Lactose and casein phosphopeptides, if anything, aid absorption.
Further reading: Gibney et al., Introduction to Human Nutrition
The standard blood marker of a person's vitamin D status is:
D. 25-hydroxyvitamin D
25(OH)D reflects intake and skin synthesis; 1,25(OH)₂D is tightly regulated and a poor marker of status.
Further reading: Gibney et al., Introduction to Human Nutrition
Whey protein is often chosen to help preserve muscle in older people because it is rich in:
D. Leucine
Leucine triggers muscle protein synthesis; whey is rapidly digested and leucine-rich.
Further reading: PROT-AGE Study Group (2013)
During adolescence, calcium needs are at their highest because:
B. Bone mineral is accrued faster than at any other age
Around a quarter or more of adult bone mineral is laid down in the two years around the growth spurt.
Further reading: Gibney et al., Introduction to Human Nutrition
The symptoms of lactose intolerance arise mainly because undigested lactose in the colon:
B. Draws in water and is fermented to gas and acids
Osmotic water and fermentation gases (H₂, CO₂, CH₄) cause bloating, pain and diarrhoea. IgE is the mechanism of allergy, not intolerance.
Further reading: Gibney et al., Introduction to Human Nutrition
In controlled feeding trials, cheese raises LDL cholesterol less than butter providing the same amount of milk fat. This is attributed to:
A. The food matrix
Calcium binding of fatty acids, retained MFGM and fermentation are proposed explanations; the fatty acids themselves are similar.
Further reading: Feeney et al. (2018) and related trials
Whole cow milk contains roughly how much cholesterol per 100 mL?
A. About 14 mg
About 10–15 mg/100 mL; butter and cream contain far more.
Further reading: Food composition tables
Which design issue is most critical to food safety in a school milk programme using fresh pasteurised milk?
C. Maintaining the cold chain from dairy to school
Fresh milk must stay chilled; failures of cold chain or reconstitution hygiene have caused outbreaks. UHT milk avoids the need for refrigeration.
Further reading: FAO school milk guidance
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