Q: I hear a lot online about eating, tracking and managing “macros” for better health. What does that mean, and should I care?
The videos on social media typically follow a similar pattern: A fit-looking person performs a series of dizzying calculations to illustrate how many macros, or grams of protein, fats and carbohydrates, you should consume in a day.
Macros, short for macronutrients, “is just a trendy word for describing energy,” said Stuart Phillips, a professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.
We need large amounts of macronutrients like fat, protein and carbohydrates to perform basic bodily functions, such as for energy production, tissue growth and repair, digestion and more.
People online have used the term to describe how they track what they eat for various goals like losing weight or improving their health, diet or fitness.
But while nutrition experts say that becoming more aware of what you eat through macro tracking can have some value, it can also become harmful if it turns into an obsession. And the research on the health benefits of macro tracking is limited.