Widdowson E M
Experientia Suppl. 1983;44:11-25. doi: 10.1007/978-3-0348-6540-1_2.
Nutritional individuality is a characteristic of mankind and this is as true of energy intakes and needs as of other attributes. Studies over the years have shown that individuals vary by a factor of two or more in their intakes of energy from the first year after birth to 75 years and over. The metabolic differences that must lie behind this are still not fully understood. Recent ideas about the importance of dietary thermogenesis in energy expenditure seemed as though they might provide an explanation, but not all investigators agree, and the problem has still not been satisfactorily solved. In spite of these individual variations, average intakes and expenditures show predictable changes with age, and males always seem to take more energy than females throughout their lives. This is still true when the intakes are expressed per kg body weight, per square metre surface area and per kg lean body mass. The explanation of this is not certain, but various suggestions have been made. There is evidence that energy intakes, at any rate in the United Kingdom, were falling between the 1950's and 1970's, and this has been attributed to a decrease in physical activity. However, some of the apparent difference is due to the fact that higher factors were used to calculate the energy derived from protein, fat and carbohydrate in the 1930's and 1940's than were used later; if the later factors are applied to the results of the earlier surveys the values for energy are reduced by about 10%. This correction brings the results of the earlier surveys into line with those of the later ones for boys up to 14 years and girls up to 10 years. Older children of both sexes and adults, however, do seem to be eating less than they used to do. The question as to whether women should and do increase their intake of food during pregnancy has been discussed at two previous meetings sponsored by Nestlé. The evidence seems to be that they do not, and it is postulated that metabolic economies enable the women to produce 4 kg of body fat and a foetus weighing 3.5 kg without any increase in energy intake at all.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
营养个体差异是人类的一个特征，这在能量摄入和需求方面与其他特征一样真实。多年来的研究表明，从出生后第一年到75岁及以上，个体的能量摄入量相差两倍或更多。其背后必然存在的代谢差异仍未完全被理解。最近关于饮食生热作用在能量消耗中的重要性的观点似乎有可能提供一种解释，但并非所有研究者都认同，这个问题仍然没有得到令人满意的解决。尽管存在这些个体差异，但平均摄入量和消耗量随年龄呈现出可预测的变化，而且男性在一生中摄入的能量似乎总是比女性多。当摄入量以每千克体重、每平方米体表面积和每千克瘦体重来表示时，情况依然如此。对此的解释尚不确定，但已经提出了各种建议。有证据表明，至少在英国，20世纪50年代至70年代期间能量摄入量在下降，这被归因于身体活动的减少。然而，一些明显的差异是由于20世纪30年代和40年代用于计算蛋白质、脂肪和碳水化合物所提供能量的系数比后来使用的要高；如果将后来的系数应用于早期调查的结果，能量值会降低约10%。这种修正使14岁以下男孩和10岁以下女孩的早期调查结果与后期结果一致。然而，男女年龄较大的儿童和成年人似乎确实比过去吃得少。关于女性在怀孕期间是否应该以及实际上是否增加食物摄入量的问题，在雀巢公司主办的前两次会议上已经进行了讨论。证据似乎表明她们没有，据推测，代谢节约使女性能够在完全不增加能量摄入的情况下产生4千克体脂肪和一个重3.5千克的胎儿。（摘要截选至400字）
