Energy and protein requirements

Nutrition Division

Energy and protein requirements

Report of a Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation

Year of publication 1985

Author Nutrition Division

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Category Technical book

ISBN 9241207248

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) The Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation on Energy and Protein Requirements1 took place in Rome from 5 to 17 October 1981. The Consultation was opened by Professor Nurul Islam, Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Department, FAO. He welcomed the participants on behalf of the three agencies and emphasized the need for a re-examination of the requirements for energy and protein in the light of recent scientific developments. More than ten years have elapsed since the Joint FAO/WH O Ad Hoc Expert Committee on Energy and Protein Requirements (1) met in 1971. That meeting was the first of its kind at which the requirements for energy and protein were considered together. In its terms of reference the Committee “was asked to examine the interrelationships between requirements for energy and proteins and to recommend means for the integration of requirement scales for energy and proteins, if that were feasible”. This was clearly an important step forward. In its report ( 1), published in 1973, the 1971 Committee reviewed the principles on which some other groups of experts had based their recommendations on energy (2, 3) and on protein (4) requirements. It had been stated consistently that estimates of nutrient needs were concerned with groups and not with individuals. The 1971 Committee confirmed that assertion but emphasized two additional points: (a) that estimates of requirements are derived from individuals rather than groups, and (b) the nutrient requireme nts of comparable individuals often vary. The Committee further pointed out that requirement estimates can be related to individuals, but only on a probability basis; this concept is developed further in the present report.

Language English

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Since 1949, FAO has convened groups of experts to evaluate current scientific knowledge in order to define the energy requirements of humans and propose dietary energy recommendations for populations. The World Health Organization (WHO) joined this initiative in the early 1950s, and the United Nations University (UNU) in 1981. New scientific knowledge generated in the 20 years since the last consultation was held prompted the assembly of a new expert consultation to make recommen dations for energy requirements of populations throughout the life cycle. This publication is the report of that consultation, which took place from 17 to 24 October 2001 at FAO headquarters in Rome. The report is not meant merely to describe the energy expenditure and requirements of population groups. It is intended also to be prescriptive in supporting and maintaining health and good nutrition, defining human energy requirements and proposing dietary energy recommendations for populations. The new concepts and recommendations set forth in the report include: calculation of energy requirements for all ages; modification of the requirements and dietary energy recommendations for infants, older children and adolescents; proposals for different requirements for populations with lifestyles that involve different levels of habitual physical activity; reassessment of energy requirements for adults, based on energy expenditure estimates expressed as multiples of basal metabolic rates; classification and recommendations of physical activity levels; an experimental approach for factorial estimates of the energy needs of pregnancy and lactation; and recommendations for additional dietary energy needs in the two last trimesters of pregnancy. The report is accompanied by a CD-ROM software program and instruction manual on calculating population energy requirements and food needs.
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COMMENTS ON THE 1973 JOINT FAO/WHO REPORT ON ENERGY AND PROTEIN REQUIREMENTS WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO INFANTS, CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS 2002

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HUMAN PROTEIN REQUIREMENTS AUTOCORRELATION AND ADAPTATION TO A LOW-PROTEIN DIET CONTAINING 356 GM PROTEIN/KG OR 57 MG N/KG BODY WEIGHT 2002

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