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Children, Pregnant, and Elderly Adjustments

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Parent
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Caloric Requirements by Population
Current
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Children, pregnant, and elderly adjustments

Children under 10 need roughly 1,200-1,800 kcal a day, adolescents 2,200-3,200, the elderly 1,800-2,200, and pregnant or nursing women need extra on top of their own baseline: about 85, 285 and 475 kcal a day in the three trimesters of pregnancy and about 500 while exclusively breastfeeding. Weighted across the parent’s population of 100, the midpoints average about 2,733 kcal, so a 2,800 community average is a small margin, not an adult figure.

Part of Caloric Budget for a Community

Demographic energy adjustments are the changes to a community’s calorie budget needed for children, pregnant and nursing women and the elderly, whose requirements differ from those of working adults.

The Average Hides The People Whose Needs Differ

The caloric guide plans with one average, 2,800 kcal, over a sample of 100 people. The groups inside that average have very different needs, and the ones with the least slack are the ones that most often get shortchanged: growing children, pregnant and nursing women, and the frail elderly. Their figures need to be set separately, not by scaling down an adult’s.

Worked Example: Does The Average Hold?

The parent’s mix gives ranges for people and for need; the ranges do not add to exactly 100 people (the headcounts sum to 85-110). Using the low ends together, the midpoints together and the high ends together:

  1. Low: (15 × 1,200 + 10 × 2,200 + 50 × 2,600 + 10 × 1,800) = 188,000 kcal over 85 people = 2,212 kcal each.
  2. High: (20 × 1,800 + 15 × 3,200 + 60 × 4,000 + 15 × 2,200) = 357,000 kcal over 110 people = 3,245 kcal each.
  3. Midpoint: 17.5 children at 1,500, 12.5 adolescents at 2,700, 55 adults at 3,300 and 12.5 elderly at 2,000 = 26,250 + 33,750 + 181,500 + 25,000 = 266,500 kcal over 97.5 people = 2,733 kcal each.
  4. Adding 5.5 pregnant or nursing women (the midpoint of 3-8) at an extra 400 kcal each, if they are counted within the adults, gives 266,500 + 2,200 = 268,700, or 2,756 kcal each.

So the parent’s 2,800 is about 1.6-2.4% above the midpoint average of 2,733-2,756, a small safety margin. At either end of the mix the true average moves by hundreds of kcal, so the real figure for a community is its own count of people, not 2,800.

Children And Adolescents

Needs per kilogram of body weight are highest in the young, and an adolescent in a growth spurt who is also working can match an adult. The parent’s ranges (1,200-1,800 under 10, 2,200-3,200 for 10-17) are working figures; this page does not offer finer age bands because it cannot source them here. Child feeding and the signs of too little food are in Child Nutrition and Malnutrition Signs.

Pregnant And Nursing Women

The parent adds 300-500 kcal a day above baseline for pregnant or nursing women. The FAO/WHO/UNU energy report (published 2004, recalled) gives the extra energy for pregnancy by trimester as about 85, 285 and 475 kcal a day, and about 500 kcal a day for the first six months of exclusive breastfeeding.

  1. The average over the pregnancy is (85 + 285 + 475) ÷ 3 = 281.7, about 280 kcal a day.
  2. So a flat 300-500 over-allocates in the first trimester and fits only the last trimester and lactation. A schedule that rises through pregnancy is closer to the evidence.

Nutrient needs beyond energy are in Pregnancy Nutrition and Breastfeeding.

The Elderly

Mifflin-St Jeor (recalled, see Adult Caloric Needs by Activity Level) subtracts 5 kcal a day for each year of age, so 40 more years lowers basal need by 200 kcal at the same body size. For reference bodies of 70 kg and 175 cm (man) and 58 kg and 162 cm (woman), age 70:

  1. Man: 700 + 1,093.75 − 350 + 5 = 1,449 kcal basal; at activity 1.4-1.55, 2,028-2,246 kcal.
  2. Woman: 580 + 1,012.5 − 350 − 161 = 1,082 kcal basal; at activity 1.4-1.55, 1,514-1,676 kcal.
  3. The parent’s 1,800-2,200 for the elderly suits an elderly man but is 130-290 kcal above the small woman’s figure. Illness, cold and recovery change these numbers; weigh and watch.

Method: Set Group Figures

Step 1: Count each group by sex and age band in your own community. Step 2: Use the parent’s ranges as starting points and the FAO increments for pregnancy and lactation. Step 3: Total them and compare with 2,800. Step 4: Check body weight in children and in the elderly monthly.

Common Mistakes

  • Giving children a fixed fraction of the adult ration. Growth needs are not proportional.
  • Cutting the elderly ration first. Weight and muscle loss in the old is hard to reverse.
  • Counting infants as zero. A breastfeeding infant’s energy comes from the mother’s extra.

Safety

Undernutrition in pregnancy and childhood is not recoverable later

Inadequate nutrition in pregnancy can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, low birth weight or impaired cognitive development, and a child’s brain growth depends on uninterrupted food (Pregnancy Nutrition). In a shortage, protect these groups’ rations first. This page gives no doses of any supplement.

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