Define the Energy Cost of Growth?

The energy cost of growth has two components:

1) The energy needed to synthesize growing tissues; and
2) The energy deposited in these tissues.

The energy cost of growth is about 35 percent of total energy requirement during the first three months of age, falls rapidly to about 5 percent at 12 months and about 3 percent in the second year, remains at 1 to 2 percent until mid-adolescence, and is negligible in the late teens.