2025 KDRIs, What Changed in Korea's Nutrient Values
Korea's 2025 Dietary Reference Intakes: carbohydrate down to 50-65%, protein up to 10-20%, choline values for the first time, and about 20 nutrients revised.
Korea's 2025 Dietary Reference Intakes: carbohydrate down to 50-65%, protein up to 10-20%, choline values for the first time, and about 20 nutrients revised.
🇰🇷 Korea's 2025 nutrient standards cut carbohydrate, raise protein, and add choline
December 31, 2025 · South Korea · KDRIs
South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare released the 2025 Korean Dietary Reference Intakes (한국인 영양소 섭취기준) on 31 December 2025. It is the second five-year revision since the standards became national in 2015, and it was developed with the Korean Nutrition Society.
The acceptable carbohydrate range drops from 55-65% of energy to 50-65%, and protein rises from 7-20% to 10-20% (fat stays at 15-30%). Choline gets Korean reference values for the first time, and around 20 nutrients were revised, among them dietary fiber, vitamin B6, calcium, phosphorus and sodium.
Sugar guidance was reworked: total sugars at or below 20% of energy, added sugars below 10%, and new advice to cut down on sugary drinks.
What it means: Korea's official targets now say less carbohydrate and more protein. Our Korean guidelines pages document the 2025 standards, and the calculator's serving patterns stay on the 2020 edition until the 활용편 is published.
Sources: MOHW press release (보건복지부 (Ministry of Health and Welfare)) · MOHW 2020→2025 comparison table (대비표) (보건복지부 (Ministry of Health and Welfare)) · Korean Nutrition Society (2025 KDRIs) (한국영양학회)
The full analysis
The Korean Dietary Reference Intakes are the country's official nutrient targets, the Korean counterpart of the US DRIs. They became national in 2015 and are revised every five years by the Ministry of Health and Welfare with the Korean Nutrition Society. The 2025 edition, released on 31 December 2025 after a three-year revision project, is the second full revision after 2020, and it covers 41 nutrients.
The biggest change is the balance of the macronutrients. The acceptable range for carbohydrate drops from 55-65% of energy to 50-65%, and protein rises from 7-20% to 10-20%, while fat stays at 15-30%. Korea's official targets now leave clearly more room for protein. The US guidelines for 2025-2030 moved the same way that winter, arrived at independently.
Choline gets Korean reference values for the first time: an adequate intake of 480 mg for men and 390 mg for women, with upper limits of 3,000 and 2,500 mg. Around twenty nutrients were revised in total, among them dietary fiber, iron, vitamin B6, calcium, phosphorus and sodium. One thing stayed the same: the estimated energy requirement (EER) still uses the IOM-2005 equation.
Sodium is now set by age. The chronic-disease-risk-reduction (CDRR) value stays 2,300 mg a day for adults 19 to 64, but the 2025 edition splits older adults for the first time: 1,900 mg a day for ages 65 to 74 (lowered) and 1,800 mg a day for 75 and older (raised). Menus and worksheets that used one adult sodium limit now need two.
Sugar guidance was restructured: total sugars at or below 20% of energy (the 2020 edition put this as a 10-20% range), added sugars below 10%, and, new as explicit advice, cutting down on sugary drinks.
What has not changed yet: the 2025 release publishes the nutrient standards but leaves the revised meal patterns (권장식사패턴) and the 식품구성자전거 (Food Balance Bicycle) to a separate application volume (활용편) still to come. Until that is published, the 2020 patterns remain Korea's current published serving patterns. There is no 2025 serving pattern to adopt yet.
What it means for this site: our Korean dietary guidelines pages now document the 2025 nutrient standards, and every page says which edition it follows. The Korea calculator keeps the 2020 serving patterns, the ones Korea itself has not yet reissued, and we will move to the 2025 patterns as soon as the 활용편 is published. We never swap reference values quietly, and the primary sources below carry the full 2025 tables today.
For teachers, the practical classroom point is that the carbohydrate floor moved from 55% to 50% and the protein floor from 7% to 10%. Worksheets that quote the 2020 ranges are one edition behind.