India's ICMR-NIN guidelines suggest 20 to 35 g of fats and oils a day for children aged 1 to 12, depending on age, but they set no separate figure for ghee. At 5 g a teaspoon, that is 4 to 7 teaspoons of all cooking fats combined, not of ghee alone. Your paediatrician's advice for your own child comes first.
This article sets out what the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN), the World Health Organization and the NHS say about fat for children past their first birthday, with the arithmetic shown. It is general information, not advice for your child: if your child has a medical condition, an allergy or any concern about growth, follow your doctor's advice. For babies under one, see our separate guide to ghee for babies.
At a glance
- ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 list 20 g of fats and oils a day for children aged 1–3 and 4–6, 25 g for 7–9, and 35 g for boys and 30 g for girls aged 10–12.
- ICMR-NIN's household measures count one teaspoon of oil or ghee as 5 g, so those figures come to 4 to 7 teaspoons of all cooking fats together.
- ICMR-NIN gives no ghee-specific daily figure for children; its general line on ghee, "1 to 2 teaspoons/day or avoid, if possible", names no age group.
- ICMR-NIN puts fat at 9 kcal per gram, so 20 g of cooking fat is 180 kcal, about 16 per cent of the roughly 1,110 kcal it suggests for a child aged 1–3.
- WHO says everyone aged 2 and over should get no more than 10 per cent of energy from saturated fat, and it names ghee as a source of saturated fat.
What do the ICMR-NIN guidelines say about ghee for children?
They give no daily amount for ghee itself. What they do give is a daily figure for all fats and oils by age group, in a table of suggested food groups for a balanced diet. Ghee counts inside that figure, alongside cooking oil and butter. They treat it as one cooking fat, not a food with its own target.
The ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians (2024) call cooking fats, ghee included, visible fats. Their table "Suggested food groups for a balanced diet to meet the daily nutrient requirements" has a column headed "Fats & oils (g)", and that is the figure used throughout this article.
On young children, the chapter on children and adolescents says: "Young children below the age of five years should be given less bulky foods, rich in energy, protein, vitamin and minerals such as pulses, nuts, edible oil/ghee milk and eggs." The same chapter warns against packaged foods and "foods containing excess oil, salt and sugar".
The guidelines' direct limit on ghee is in the fats chapter: "Limit ghee or butter to just 1 to 2 teaspoons/day or avoid, if possible." That line names no age group, and we have not stretched it to cover children. Our article on how much ghee per day covers that limit for adults.
How many teaspoons of ghee would that be by age?
Between four and seven teaspoons of all fats and oils a day, depending on age and, from 10, on sex. That is the whole day's cooking fat. If every gram were ghee, the teaspoon figure would be the same, but the guidelines do not suggest using ghee alone, and their general advice is to limit it.
The conversion uses ICMR-NIN's own household measure, which lists "Oil/ghee 5" grams as "1 teaspoon". The energy column uses the guidelines' figure of 9 kcal for every gram of fat. The last column sets that energy against the approximate daily energy the same table gives for each group.
| Age group (ICMR-NIN) | Fats & oils per day | Teaspoons (÷ 5 g) | Energy from it (× 9 kcal) | Share of the table's daily energy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Children 1–3 years | 20 g | 4 | 180 kcal | 180 ÷ 1,110 = 16% |
| Children 4–6 years | 20 g | 4 | 180 kcal | 180 ÷ 1,370 = 13% |
| Children 7–9 years | 25 g | 5 | 225 kcal | 225 ÷ 1,710 = 13% |
| Boys 10–12 years | 35 g | 7 | 315 kcal | 315 ÷ 2,230 = 14% |
| Girls 10–12 years | 30 g | 6 | 270 kcal | 270 ÷ 2,060 = 13% |
A few notes on reading it. The teaspoon, energy and percentage columns are our arithmetic, not figures the guidelines print. The guidelines define "1 to 3 yrs" as 1+ to 3 years 11 months, and so on for the other groups. They say the food groups are "for children who are growing normally", and that the suggested diets provide around 30 per cent of energy from total fats. The rest comes from fat already present in foods such as nuts, seeds, pulses and cereals, which the guidelines call invisible fat. Teaspoons are measured level: our guide to ghee spoon measures in grams explains why a heaped spoon holds more.
What do the guidelines' sample menus for children show?
They show how the daily figure is spread across meals. The diet charts for children aged 1 to 3 list oil/ghee at 7 g, 7 g and 6 g in breakfast, lunch and dinner, which adds up to 20 g. The menus for children aged 4 to 9 list oil in each main meal and do not name ghee.
- 1 to 3 years: the ICMR-NIN diet chart is for children weighing 13 kg. Each day lists oil/ghee at 7 g with breakfast, 7 g with lunch and 6 g with dinner (7 + 7 + 6 = 20 g). The chart itself describes 7 g as "One and half teaspoon" and 6 g as "1 teaspoon", which is a little looser than its 5 g teaspoon elsewhere.
- 4 to 6 years: the suggested diet, for a reference child of 18 kg, lists oil at 10 g with lunch and 10 g with dinner (10 + 10 = 20 g).
- 7 to 9 years: the suggested diet, for a reference child of 25 kg, lists oil at 15 g with lunch and 10 g with dinner (15 + 10 = 25 g).
The guidelines say quantities are for raw ingredients and that energy requirement depends on body weight and physical activity. These are worked examples, not prescriptions, and the guidelines print no sample menu for ages 10 to 12.
Why do children need fat in their food at all?
For energy, and to carry certain vitamins. ICMR-NIN describes fats as a concentrated source of energy, at 9 kcal per gram against 4 kcal for protein or carbohydrate, and says fats serve as a vehicle for the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and promote their absorption. That applies to cooking fats generally, not to ghee in particular.
The NHS makes a similar point for younger children: "Young children, especially those under the age of 2, need the energy provided by fat." It adds that some vitamins are only found in fats.
Neither body says ghee does anything for a child that other fats do not. Claims you may read online that ghee builds brain power, height or immunity in children are not made in any of the guidelines we read for this article.
How does ghee fit within a child's saturated-fat limit?
As one source of saturated fat among several. ICMR-NIN advises limiting "high saturated-fat containing oils/fats such as ghee, butter etc." WHO recommends that everyone aged 2 and over get no more than 10 per cent of total energy from saturated fatty acids, and it lists ghee among the hard fats that supply them.
WHO's 2023 update names "hard fats and oils such as butter, ghee, lard, palm oil and coconut oil" as sources of saturated fat. On the roughly 1,370 kcal day ICMR-NIN gives for ages 4 to 6, 10 per cent is 137 kcal, or about 15 g of saturated fat at 9 kcal per gram (137 ÷ 9 = 15.2), from every food combined.
The NHS says that once a child is two, you can gradually introduce lower-fat dairy products and cut down on fat in other foods, "provided your child is a good eater and growing well". By five, it says, a child can eat a balanced diet like the one recommended for adults. It also asks families to keep an eye on saturated fat.
When should you ask your paediatrician first?
Whenever your child's situation is not the one the guidelines describe. The ICMR-NIN figures are for children who are growing normally. If your child is underweight, overweight, unwell, allergic to milk or under medical care, the right amount of any fat, ghee included, is your doctor's decision, not a table's.
In practice, it is worth asking your paediatrician or a registered dietitian before relying on the figures above if:
- your child is not growing as expected, or has been told they are underweight or overweight;
- your child has a known or suspected milk allergy, since ghee is made from milk;
- your child has a medical condition, or has been given a special diet;
- you have been advised to add extra ghee for weight gain or after an illness.
For everyday cooking, count every spoon of oil, butter and ghee as part of one day's fats and oils, and measure with a level spoon. For children under two, ICMR-NIN adds that added sugar "must be totally avoided", so ghee should not be sweetened for a child that young. Himdhara makes ghee, but nothing here depends on whose ghee is in the jar.
The short version
The ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians suggest 20 g of fats and oils a day for children aged 1 to 6, 25 g for ages 7 to 9, and 35 g for boys and 30 g for girls aged 10 to 12. At 5 g a teaspoon, that is 4 to 7 teaspoons of all cooking fats combined, and the guidelines set no separate figure for ghee. WHO caps saturated fat at 10 per cent of energy from age two, and both WHO and ICMR-NIN name ghee as a source of it. Above all, follow your paediatrician's advice for your own child.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (2024). Dietary Guidelines for Indians. ICMR-NIN, Hyderabad.
- World Health Organization (2023). WHO updates guidelines on fats and carbohydrates. WHO news.
- NHS (2023). What to feed young children. NHS.