[Individual variability in human requirements for food stuffs and energy and nutritional norms]

The regular modifications in man's need of energy and protein substances primarily under the effect of a variety of factors are investigated. Emphasis is laid on the broad limits of individual variations in terms of alimentary requirements of people, and on a number of facts suggesting that in some ses the regularity of variations is by no means clarified. The problem of the minimum energy expenditure required by the organism is dealt with, underscoring the role played in this respect by basic metabolism values, and by the maximum energetic potential. The problem of the influence of deficient feeding and immobilization on man's need of alimentary substances is also discussed, as well as the issue of optimal protein balance level in the organism, considered as a level securing to the organism the optimal possibilities of metabolic adaptation to external milieu effects.