Determination of Energy Expenditure

Abstract

Nutrition interventions are often designed to influence energy balance, ultimately optimizing the health of individuals or groups. Goals include weight loss in obese and overweight individuals or weight gain in growing children, pregnant women, and the underweight. In some cases, weight maintenance is the intention for healthy weight adults or children who have the opportunity to grow into their current weight. Determining the energy requirements for each person can help explain the presence or absence of weight changes and direct subsequent nutrition goals and interventions. Quantifying energy requirements also helps to avoid over- and under- feeding. This is particularly relevant in people suffering from acute or chronic disease or illness. In the acute care setting overfeeding can worsen metabolic disturbances including, but not limited to, hyperglycemia and hypercarbia while underfeeding can negatively impact immunity, organ function, and activities of daily living. This review contains 3 Figures, 5 Tables and 66 references Key words: nutrition, energy expenditure, body composition, calorimetry, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), doubly-labeled water (DLW), reverse Fick equation, Harris-Benedict equation, Millfin-St. Jeor Equation, Owen Equation, Ireton-Jones Equations, Penn State Equations, hypocaloric feeding