Energy intake and growth of 3- to 36-month-old German infants and children

Recently, new estimations of the energy requirements of infants and children were proposed as a basis of new FAO/WHO energy requirements. We have compared the energy intake of 354 healthy, well-nourished infants taking part in the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinal Designed Study (3-day-weighted diet records) with these new estimated energy requirements. The energy intake of breastfed and formula-fed infants and the energy intake of the I-to 3-year-old children in the study population corresponded well with the new estimated energy requirements, although these were considerably lower than the 1985 FAO/WHO energy requirements. Breast-feeding rates were lower and the introduction of beikost was earlier than the current recommendations. Height and weight, which were taken as global indicators of the adequacy of the energy intake, were in good accordance with The Netherlands' third nationwide survey. Our data indicate that the new estimations of energy requirement seem to be more appropriate than the 1985 FAO/WHO energy requirements.