The importance of the energy balance to prevent obesity

According to the professor of Nutrition and Bromatology of the CEU San Pablo University and current president of the Spanish Foundation of Nutrition (FEN), Dr. Gregorio Varela-Moreiras, the new technologies of the ANIBES study would offer much more precise data in energy balance surveys, as indicated in the scientific session entitled 'Energy balance and food surveys' which took place recently in the Royal National Academy of Medicine (RANM) and which also had the collaboration of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition.

In this very interesting scientific session, one of the main messages that the participating experts have wanted to convey is that have information about the physical activity carried out and the energy intake It is fundamental when it comes to knowing the energy balance, not only at the individual level but also at the population level.

As Dr. Varela-Moreiras points out, up to now the different food surveys had several certainly frequent problems, highlighting above all the overvaluation of energy expenditure on the one hand and the undervaluation of the intake on the other.

As the specialists have stated, the energy balance is very useful to prevent obesity, especially the control of the energy ingested through food and beverages, and the energy consumed from physical activity, the necessary for the use of the different nutrients that we obtain through food, and the maintenance of the different vital functions.

In the words of Angel Gil, president of the Spanish Society of Nutrition (SEN), "body weight is maintained if the intake equals the expense, given that we are in energy balance". And is that since energy is ingested through food and alcohol, and then spent through the thermal effect of these, the basal metabolism and physical activity, detailed knowledge of the components of the energy balance It is essential to combat overweight and obesity.