Food energy is energy that animals (including humans) derive from their food, through the process of cellular respiration, the process of joining oxygen with the molecules of food (aerobic respiration) or of reorganizing the atoms within the molecules for anaerobic respiration.
Humans and other animals need a minimum intake of food energy to sustain their metabolism and drive their muscles. Foods are composed chiefly of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, water, vitamins, and minerals. Carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and water represent virtually all the weight of food, with vitamins and minerals making up only a small percentage of the weight. Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins comprise ninety percent of the dry weight of foods.[1] Food energy is derived from carbohydrates, fats and proteins as well as organic acids, polyols, and ethanol present in the diet.[2] Some diet components that provide little or no food energy, such as water, minerals, vitamins, cholesterol, and fibre, may still be necessary to health and survival for other reasons. Water, minerals, vitamins, and cholesterol are not broken down (they are used by the body in the form in which they are absorbed) and so cannot be used for energy. Fiber, a type of carbohydrate, cannot be completely digested by the human body. Ruminants can extract food energy from the respiration of cellulose thanks to bacteria in their rumens.