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What is Energy?
Energy is stored within food and provides the means for us to sustain our bodily process and everyday life activities. Energy is measured in, and represented on food packages as kilojoules (kJ) and kilocalories (kcals).
Energy Requirements?
The UK Government Guidelines use the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) which is an estimation of the average energy requirement for an average adult. These range by age and sex, with the recommendations of 2,500 kcal and 2,000 kcal for adult (19-64 years) males and females respectively. Find the different food intake guidelines for around the world in the further resources section below.
Despite this, the recommended energy requirements can change due to a number of different factors including age, sex, body size and amount of activity. The current guidelines are based on the most common lifestyle in the UK, which is sedentary (inactive). This means roughly half of people will require less energy and roughly half will require more energy to meet their daily needs.
Energy requirements can also be different depending on individual needs, targets and goals. The current energy requirements are based on maintaining a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 22.5kg/m2 to encourage people towards a healthier weight, the healthy BMI range is 18.5kg/m2 to 24.9kg/m2. However, individualised targets are required in certain situations to optimise health and wellbeing. It is important to follow the guidelines set by health practitioners if you have been set individualised targets.
What is the Role of Energy?
Calories are used to indicate the amount of energy a food or drink provides. Enough energy is needed from calories for the body to function well. In order to maintain weight, the amount of calories consumed should be the same as the amount of calories the body needs, resulting in energy balance. If this energy input and output are not balanced weight might change. Consuming more calories than the body uses may result in weight gain and consuming less calories than the body uses may result in weight loss. Therefore, weight management can be influenced by energy intake through the amount of food eaten and energy output through the calories burnt e.g. exercise.
What Foods Contain Energy?
The source of energy is also important and can affect health and wellbeing. Therefore it is important to eat a range of food in order to meet our bodies requirements. The Eatwell Guide provides recommendations of the proportion of energy that should be eaten from each of the main food group to] maintain a healthy diet. These recommendations do not need to apply to every meal but should be achieved over a day or even a week.
Fruit and Vegetables: On average less than 39% of males and 48% of women meet the 5-a-day recommendation. Fruit or vegetables should make up a third of what we eat. Try to consume a minimum of 5 portions of different fruit and vegetables every day; these can be fresh, frozen, canned or dried.
Starchy Foods: Another third of what we eat each day should be starchy foods like bread, pasta and rice; try to consume the wholegrain types as they contain more fibre than the white versions
Protein: Protein rich foods include fish, meat, beans and lentils. These sources differ in the nutrients they provide alongside protein. Beans and lentils tend to be higher in fibre and lower in fat than meat. When eating meat try to opt for leaner cuts, and reduce the amount of red and processed meat consumed like bacon, ham and sausages. Try to consume oily fish every week like salmon, sardines and mackerel. Other meat free sources include dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt. Try to opt for low fat and low sugar options where possible.
Fats: There are different sources and types of fats in our diet. Unsaturated fats such as vegetable and seed oils are healthier than saturated fats such as butter or lard, but all fats are high in calories and should be consumed sparingly. Other high calorie foods to eat sparingly include chocolate, cakes, biscuits, ice cream and sugary drinks.
Further Resources:
- Nutrient Requirements – What do people need to be healthy?
- Nutrient Requirements – What do people need to be healthy?
- The Eatwell Guide – NHS
- Education | Nutrition | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- Sport and exercise | British Nutritional Foundation
References:
Public Health England (2016). Government Dietary Recommendations: Government recommendations for energy and nutrients for males and females aged 1–18 years and 19+ years. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a749fece5274a44083b82d8/government_dietary_recommendations.pdf [Accessed 21 Aug 2024].
National Health Service (2022). The Eatwell Guide. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/food-guidelines-and-food-labels/the-eatwell-guide/ [Accessed 21 Aug 2024]
Roberts, S., and Sliver, R. (2023) Energy Requirements, In: Encyclopaedia of Human Nutrition (ed. Four), pp. 217-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-821848-8.00150-5
National Health Service (2022). Health survey England additional analyses, ethnicity and health, 2011-2019 experimental statistics. Health Survey England Additional Analyses. Available at: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-england-additional-analyses/ethnicity-and-health-2011-2019-experimental-statistics/fruit-and-vegetable-consumption#:~:text=Consuming%20five%20or%20more%20portions,consumed%20the%20recommended%20five%20portions [Accessed 19 September 2024].
Written By:
Lucy Clarkson, SENR Nutritionist and Database Support, myfood24.