Re: How many kilojoules (of carbohydrates) does a kid, around 11 , need a day?

Hi Alex, the energy needed by a 11-14 year old boy is about 10,000 kilojoules, and if half comes from carbohydrate that means 5,000 kilojoules from carbohydrate (the other 5,000 would come from protein and fat). This is about 300 grams of carbohydrate. Energy need is greater for larger people and less for smaller. The energy need above is for a boy that weighs about 45 kilograms and is 157 centimeters tall. A simple way to estimate the energy need of different size boys would be to multiply weight in kilograms by 225 to determine total energy (kilojoules) needed, and consider half of that will be provided by carbohydrate, the other half by protein and fat.

You can request a nutrition booklet which talks about carbohydrate foods from the Australian Institute of Sport (Residents of Australia only) at the website http://nestle.com.au/ winningdiet Look under "Other Information" for their booklet offer.

Phyllis Stumbo
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242