Energy balance in childhood and adolescence.

A little over 2 years ago the Nutrition Society held a symposium on the ‘Regulation of Energy Balance’. Many of the papers were of interest, but not of much relevance to the understanding of energy balance in normal individuals, particularly in children. Before dealing with the proper subject matter of this presentation, it might be useful to consider some of the points raised by one of the papers of the previous symposium (Miller, 1982) since it stimulates some re-analysis in relation to terminology, terms such as ‘gross energy’, ‘net energy’, ‘cold’and ‘dietary-induced’ thermogenesis, etc. These points are of importance not only to remove confusion about the correct understanding of the terms, but also to dispel muddle in the minds of some nutritionists resulting from an illogical interpretation of some simple physiological phenomena.