Question

Calculating Fat Intake within the AMDR

John eats a lot of fatty foods, but he is an athlete and he just eats a lot of everything. His daily kilocalorie intake is close to 4,500 kilocalories. He is not really watching his weight because it has stayed the same for the last several years. However, he wants to make sure his fat consumption stays within the healthy range, as he has seen so many advertisements for “healthy”, low-fat products on TV. Calculate how many grams of fat John could consume while staying within the AMDR.

Round up the number of grams to the nearest whole number.

Answer 1

The term AMDR refers to Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges. Fats provide good amount of energy to the body and are one of important energy yielding nutrients. This energy is measured in calories and basically one gram of fat provides with 9 calories of energy and the proportion of fat in the diet for an adult usually should be within 20-35%

1gm of Fat = 9 kcal of energy.

Considering the proportion of fat in the diet the number of grams of fat John could consume is calculated as below.

First lets consider the minimum percentage of fat which is 20% (20/100=0.2) and derive the amount of calories present in 20% of fat.

Given intake of calories by John = 4,500 kcal

4500 x 0.2 = 900 kcal from fat

as mentioned above 1gm of Fat = 9 kcal of energy.

Therefore 900 kcal ÷ 9 kcal/gram = 100 gm of fat

Now lets consider the maximum percentage of fat which is 35% (35/100=0.35) and derive the amount of calories present in 35% of fat.

Given intake of calories by John = 4,500 kcal

4500 x 0.35 = 1575 kcal from fat

as mentioned above 1gm of Fat = 9 kcal of energy.

Therefore 1575 kcal ÷ 9 kcal/gram = 175 gm of fat

Thus while staying within the AMDR John could consume 100-175 gm of fat.

175gm of fat can be considered as the nearest whole number.