What Sih Calories and How much Do We Need?

Calories become a familiar word heard, especially when you are on a diet. But actually, what calories is? Why do we need it and how many calories we need?

Clinical nutrition specialist Samuel Oetoro said, the actual calorie is a unit of energy. So precisely, the body needs energy in units of calories. Energy needed by the body to perform its functions and activities.

"The energy be obtained from food. Which is why every food has calories in varies quantities," said Samuel when contacted by Reuters Health, Friday (17/01/2014).

The difference in calories from food of nutritional value specified in it. Nutrients that contain the highest calories are fat, followed by carbohydrates and proteins.

"When compared to the size of a gram, fat contains nine calories, carbohydrates and protein are both four calories,"

The deciding factor caloric intake

 
Calories a person needs varies depending on several factors, including age, sex, weight, height, and activity. This is because these factors determine the amount of energy released by the body.

Samuel pointed out, for example, a healthy adult males usually requires intake of 2,000 calories per day. While as we age, the lower the caloric needs.

"To determine the appropriate caloric needs for each individual, the calculations required by the experts. Nevertheless, the overall caloric requirements influenced these factors," said a doctor who practiced at the Siloam Hospital. 

Different needs of different amount of calories

Samuel explains, calorie needs should be satisfied in order to maintain normal body functions. However, if you have special needs, such as the wish to raise or lower the weight, the amount of calories diasup may be different.

"To lose weight, one must eat less than caloric needs, contrary to the weight increase.'s Just should not be too drastic because it would disturb the function of the body. Ideally, weight loss of two to four pounds in a month," he concluded.