ARS | Publication request: FOOD ENERGY - METHODS OF ANALYSIS AND CONVERSION FACTORS

Submitted to: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Technical Workshop Report
Publication Type: Monograph
Publication Acceptance Date: October 1, 2003
Publication Date: February 1, 2003
Citation: Maclean, W.C., Harnly, J.M., Chen, J., Chevassus-Agnes, S., Gilani, G., Livesey, G., Mathioudakis, B., Munoz De Chavez, M., Devasconcellos, M.T., Warwick, P. 2003. Food energy - methods of analysis and conversion factors. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Technical Workshop Report. Food and Nutrition Paper #77. ISSN 02543-4725, Rome, Italy.

Technical Abstract: The methods for calculating energy are constantly being re-examined as new technology is developed. The evaluation of the energy intake is of considerable political importance to the UN as it is used to determine the percentage of the population of a country that is under-nourished. This estimate is used as a basis for aid. The workshop participants considered the methods of energy calculation, made recommendations as to the best methods, and listed alternative, acceptable methods. A new approach of breaking energy down into the usable energy and the overhead energy was rejected since it could not be reconciled with the energy expenditure measurements made by calorimetry. The new approach would have provided lower estimates of usable energy intake without similarly shifting the estimates of energy expended. The net result would have been a false increase in the estimation of the under-nourished population of every country in the world It was recommended that the new approach be reconsidered after experts on energy expenditure had time to refine their measurement procedures.