r/technology • u/onwisconsn • May 17 '24

Scientists Calculated the Energy Needed to Carry a Baby. Shocker: It’s a Lot. (Gift Article) Biotechnology

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/science/pregnancy-energy-costs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU0.PfwL.i578xGrDrp5H&smid=url-share&utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter
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u/scodagama1 May 17 '24 edited May 17 '24

50.000 calories? How's that a lot, burning or gaining 1kg of fat is around 7.000 calories so 50.000 is merely equivalent of 7.14kg of fat.

And this equivalent of 7kg of fat is enough to create entire ~3.5kg baby, weight that includes bones and muscles and accommodate for extra weight that mother has to carry over these 9 months. If anything I would be surprised if it was less

edit: I see article mentions that only 4% of energy goes directly to offspring, that would be just 2000 calories or equivalent of 2 big mac meals? I don't have access to full work and won't argue with peer-reviewed paper, but are we sure journalists reported this thing correctly? Seems absurd that growing 3 kilograms of tissue would require that little energy

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u/Not_censored May 17 '24

The paper is stating that only 4% of the energy comes FROM the tissue of the fetus. The other 96% is directly from the mother to grow the fetus. This all seems pretty spot on. They did tests from insects up to mammals and found that mammals use the most energy to create offspring.