TY - JOUR

T1 - Variability in energy expenditure is much greater in males than females

AU - Halsey, Lewis G

AU - Careau, Vincent

AU - Pontzer, Herman

AU - Ainslie, Philip N

AU - Andersen, Lene F

AU - Anderson, Liam J

AU - Arab, Lenore

AU - Baddou, Issad

AU - Bedu-Addo, Kweku

AU - Blaak, Ellen E

AU - Blanc, Stephane

AU - Bonomi, Alberto G

AU - Bouten, Carlijn V C

AU - Bovet, Pascal

AU - Buchowski, Maciej S

AU - Butte, Nancy F

AU - Camps, Stefan G J A

AU - Close, Graeme L

AU - Cooper, Jamie A

AU - Das, Sai Krupa

AU - Cooper, Richard

AU - Dugas, Lara R

AU - Ekelund, Ulf

AU - Entringer, Sonja

AU - Forrester, Terrence

AU - Fudge, Barry W

AU - Goris, Annelies H

AU - Gurven, Michael

AU - Hambly, Catherine

AU - El Hamdouchi, Asmaa

AU - Hoos, Marije B

AU - Hu, Sumei

AU - Joonas, Noorjehan

AU - Joosen, Annemiek M

AU - Katzmarzyk, Peter

AU - Kempen, Kitty P

AU - Kimura, Misaka

AU - Kraus, William E

AU - Kushner, Robert F

AU - Lambert, Estelle V

AU - Leonard, William R

AU - Lessan, Nader

AU - Martin, Corby K

AU - Medin, Anine C

AU - Meijer, Erwin P

AU - Morehen, James C

AU - Morton, James P

AU - Neuhouser, Marian L

AU - Nicklas, Theresa A

AU - Ojiambo, Robert M

AU - Pietiläinen, Kirsi H

AU - Pitsiladis, Yannis P

AU - Plange-Rhule, Jacob

AU - Plasqui, Guy

AU - Prentice, Ross L

AU - Rabinovich, Roberto A

AU - Racette, Susan B

AU - Raichlen, David A

AU - Ravussin, Eric

AU - Reynolds, Rebecca M

AU - Roberts, Susan B

AU - Schuit, Albertine J

AU - Sjödin, Anders Mikael

AU - Stice, Eric

AU - Urlacher, Samuel S

AU - Valenti, Giulio

AU - Van Etten, Ludo M

AU - Van Mil, Edgar A

AU - Wilson, George

AU - Wood, Brian M

AU - Yanovski, Jack

AU - Yoshida, Tsukasa

AU - Zhang, Xueying

AU - Murphy-Alford, Alexia J

AU - Loechl, Cornelia U

AU - Luke, Amy H

AU - Rood, Jennifer

AU - Sagayama, Hiroyuki

AU - Schoeller, Dale A

AU - Westerterp, Klaas R

AU - Wong, William W

AU - Yamada, Yosuke

AU - Speakman, John R

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - In mammals, trait variation is often reported to be greater among males than females. However, to date, mainly only morphological traits have been studied. Energy expenditure represents the metabolic costs of multiple physical, physiological, and behavioral traits. Energy expenditure could exhibit particularly high greater male variation through a cumulative effect if those traits mostly exhibit greater male variation, or a lack of greater male variation if many of them do not. Sex differences in energy expenditure variation have been little explored. We analyzed a large database on energy expenditure in adult humans (1494 males and 3108 females) to investigate whether humans have evolved sex differences in the degree of interindividual variation in energy expenditure. We found that, even when statistically comparing males and females of the same age, height, and body composition, there is much more variation in total, activity, and basal energy expenditure among males. However, with aging, variation in total energy expenditure decreases, and because this happens more rapidly in males, the magnitude of greater male variation, though still large, is attenuated in older age groups. Considerably greater male variation in both total and activity energy expenditure could be explained by greater male variation in levels of daily activity. The considerably greater male variation in basal energy expenditure is remarkable and may be explained, at least in part, by greater male variation in the size of energy-demanding organs. If energy expenditure is a trait that is of indirect interest to females when choosing a sexual partner, this would suggest that energy expenditure is under sexual selection. However, we present a novel energetics model demonstrating that it is also possible that females have been under stabilizing selection pressure for an intermediate basal energy expenditure to maximize energy available for reproduction.

AB - In mammals, trait variation is often reported to be greater among males than females. However, to date, mainly only morphological traits have been studied. Energy expenditure represents the metabolic costs of multiple physical, physiological, and behavioral traits. Energy expenditure could exhibit particularly high greater male variation through a cumulative effect if those traits mostly exhibit greater male variation, or a lack of greater male variation if many of them do not. Sex differences in energy expenditure variation have been little explored. We analyzed a large database on energy expenditure in adult humans (1494 males and 3108 females) to investigate whether humans have evolved sex differences in the degree of interindividual variation in energy expenditure. We found that, even when statistically comparing males and females of the same age, height, and body composition, there is much more variation in total, activity, and basal energy expenditure among males. However, with aging, variation in total energy expenditure decreases, and because this happens more rapidly in males, the magnitude of greater male variation, though still large, is attenuated in older age groups. Considerably greater male variation in both total and activity energy expenditure could be explained by greater male variation in levels of daily activity. The considerably greater male variation in basal energy expenditure is remarkable and may be explained, at least in part, by greater male variation in the size of energy-demanding organs. If energy expenditure is a trait that is of indirect interest to females when choosing a sexual partner, this would suggest that energy expenditure is under sexual selection. However, we present a novel energetics model demonstrating that it is also possible that females have been under stabilizing selection pressure for an intermediate basal energy expenditure to maximize energy available for reproduction.

KW - Activity

KW - Biological sex

KW - DLW

KW - Energetics

KW - Trait variability

U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103229

DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103229

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36115145

AN - SCOPUS:85138028738

VL - 171

JO - Journal of Human Evolution

JF - Journal of Human Evolution

SN - 0047-2484

M1 - 103229

ER -