TY - JOUR

T1 - Energy compensation and adiposity in humans

AU - Careau, Vincent

AU - Halsey, Lewis G

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 - 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 - Eaton, Simon D

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 - Sjödin, Anders Mikael

AU - Wood, Brian M

AU - Luke, Amy H

AU - Rood, Jennifer

AU - Sagayama, Hiroyuki

AU - Schoeller, Dale A

AU - Wong, William W

AU - Yamada, Yosuke

AU - Speakman, John R

AU - IAEA DLW database group

N1 - Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Understanding the impacts of activity on energy balance is crucial. Increasing levels of activity may bring diminishing returns in energy expenditure because of compensatory responses in non-activity energy expenditures. This suggestion has profound implications for both the evolution of metabolism and human health. It implies that a long-term increase in activity does not directly translate into an increase in total energy expenditure (TEE) because other components of TEE may decrease in response-energy compensation. We used the largest dataset compiled on adult TEE and basal energy expenditure (BEE) (n = 1,754) of people living normal lives to find that energy compensation by a typical human averages 28% due to reduced BEE; this suggests that only 72% of the extra calories we burn from additional activity translates into extra calories burned that day. Moreover, the degree of energy compensation varied considerably between people of different body compositions. This association between compensation and adiposity could be due to among-individual differences in compensation: people who compensate more may be more likely to accumulate body fat. Alternatively, the process might occur within individuals: as we get fatter, our body might compensate more strongly for the calories burned during activity, making losing fat progressively more difficult. Determining the causality of the relationship between energy compensation and adiposity will be key to improving public health strategies regarding obesity.

AB - Understanding the impacts of activity on energy balance is crucial. Increasing levels of activity may bring diminishing returns in energy expenditure because of compensatory responses in non-activity energy expenditures. This suggestion has profound implications for both the evolution of metabolism and human health. It implies that a long-term increase in activity does not directly translate into an increase in total energy expenditure (TEE) because other components of TEE may decrease in response-energy compensation. We used the largest dataset compiled on adult TEE and basal energy expenditure (BEE) (n = 1,754) of people living normal lives to find that energy compensation by a typical human averages 28% due to reduced BEE; this suggests that only 72% of the extra calories we burn from additional activity translates into extra calories burned that day. Moreover, the degree of energy compensation varied considerably between people of different body compositions. This association between compensation and adiposity could be due to among-individual differences in compensation: people who compensate more may be more likely to accumulate body fat. Alternatively, the process might occur within individuals: as we get fatter, our body might compensate more strongly for the calories burned during activity, making losing fat progressively more difficult. Determining the causality of the relationship between energy compensation and adiposity will be key to improving public health strategies regarding obesity.

U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.016

DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.016

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34453886

VL - 31

SP - 4659-4666.e2

JO - Current Biology

JF - Current Biology

SN - 0960-9822

IS - 20

ER -