Total energy expenditure is repeatable in adults but not associated with short-term changes in body composition

Rebecca Rimbach, Yosuke Yamada, Hiroyuki Sagayama, Philip N. Ainslie, Lene F. Anderson, Liam J. Anderson, Lenore Arab, Issaad Baddou, Kweku Bedu-Addo, Ellen E. Blaak, Stephane Blanc, Alberto G. Bonomi, Carlijn V. C. Bouten, Pascal Bovet, Maciej S. Buchowski, Nancy F. Butte, Stefan G. J. A. Camps, Graeme L. Close, Jamie A. Cooper, Sai Krupa DasLara R. Dugas, Ulf Ekelund, Sonja Entringer, Terrence Forrester, Barry W. Fudge, Annelies H. Goris, Michael Gurven, Catherine Hambly, Asmaa El Hamdouchi, Marije B. Hoos, Sumei Hu, Noorjehan Joonas, Annemiek M. Joosen, Peter Katzmarzyk, Kitty P. Kempen, Misaka Kimura, William E. Kraus, Robert F. Kushner, Estelle V. Lambert, William R. Leonard, Nader Lessan, Corby K. Martin, Anine C. Medin, Erwin P. Meijer, James C. Morehen, James P. Morton, Marian L. Neuhouser, Theresa A. Nicklas, Robert M. Ojiambo, Kirsi H. Pietiläinen, Yannis P. Pitsiladis, Jacob Plange-Rhule, Guy Plasqui, Ross L. Prentice, Roberto A. Rabinovich, Susan B. Racette, David A. Raichlen, Eric Ravussin, Rebecca M. Reynolds, Susan B. Roberts, Albertine J. Schuit, Anders M. Sjödin, Eric Stice, Samuel S. Urlacher, Giulio Valenti, Ludo M. Van Etten, Edgar A. Van Mil, Jonathan C. K. Wells, George Wilson, Brian M. Wood, Jack Yanovski, Tsukasa Yoshida, Xueying Zhang, Alexia J. Murphy-Alford, Cornelia U. Loechl, Amy H. Luke, Jennifer Rood, Dale A. Schoeller, Klaas R. Westerterp, William W. Wong, John R. Speakman, Herman Pontzer, John R. Speakman

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Abstract: Low total energy expenditure (TEE, MJ/d) has been a hypothesized risk factor for weight gain, but repeatability of TEE, a critical variable in longitudinal studies of energy balance, is understudied. We examine repeated doubly labeled water (DLW) measurements of TEE in 348 adults and 47 children from the IAEA DLW Database (mean ± SD time interval: 1.9 ± 2.9 y) to assess repeatability of TEE, and to examine if TEE adjusted for age, sex, fat-free mass, and fat mass is associated with changes in weight or body composition. Here, we report that repeatability of TEE is high for adults, but not children. Bivariate Bayesian mixed models show no among or within-individual correlation between body composition (fat mass or percentage) and unadjusted TEE in adults. For adults aged 20–60 y (N = 267; time interval: 7.4 ± 12.2 weeks), increases in adjusted TEE are associated with weight gain but not with changes in body composition; results are similar for subjects with intervals >4 weeks (N = 53; 29.1 ± 12.8 weeks). This suggests low TEE is not a risk factor for, and high TEE is not protective against, weight or body fat gain over the time intervals tested.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number99
    JournalNature Communications
    Volume13
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 10 Jan 2022

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    The DLW database, which can be found at https://doubly-labelled-water-database.iaea.org/home or https://www.dlwdatabase.org/, is generously supported by the IAEA, Taiyo Nippon Sanso and, SERCON. We are grateful to David Ludwig and Cara Ebbeling for their contributed data. We are grateful to these companies for their support and especially to Takashi Oono for his tremendous efforts at fund raising on our behalf. The authors also gratefully acknowledge funding from the US National Science Foundation (BCS-1824466) awarded to Herman Pontzer.

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2022, The Author(s).

    Keywords

    • obesity
    • risk factors

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