The Energy Requirement for Growth

Abstract

The energy requirements for synthetic processes during growth in the male reference baby of 3,900 g at 3 weeks of age, growing along the 50th percentile have been recalculated, taking into account physiological values for P/O ratios of NAD- and FAD-linked substrates in oxidative phosphorylation and the processing and splicing of precursor RNA. An amount of 2.1% of the total energy intake is needed to cover the needs for synthetic processes associated with growth.