Variability of resting energy expenditure in healthy volunteers during fasting and continuous enteral feeding.

The magnitude of variability in resting energy expenditure (REE) during the day was assessed in nine healthy young subjects under two nutritional conditions: 1) mixed nutrient (53% carbohydrate, 30% fat, 17% protein) enteral feeding at an energy level corresponding to 1.44 REE; and 2) enteral fasting, with only water allowed. In each subject, six 30-min measurements of REE were performed using indirect calorimetry (hood system) at 90-min intervals from 9 AM to 5 PM. The mean REE and respiratory quotient were significantly (p less than .01) greater during feeding than during fasting (1.08 +/- 0.07 [SEM] vs. 1.00 +/- 0.06 kcal/min and 0.874 +/- 0.007 vs. 0.829 +/- 0.008 kcal/min, respectively). Mean postprandial thermogenesis was 4.9 +/- 0.4% of metabolizable energy administered. The intraindividual variability of REE throughout the day, expressed as the coefficient of variation, ranged from 0.7% to 2.0% in the fasting condition and from 1.2% to 4.1% in the feeding condition. There was no significant difference between the REE measured in the morning and that determined in the afternoon

Ten-year changes in anthropometric characteristics of elderly Europeans

OBJECTIVE: Assess longitudinal (10-y) changes in height, body weight and circumferences in elderly Europeans. DESIGN: Longitudinal assessments including baseline measurements taken in 1988/1989 which were repeated in 1993 (follow-up) and in 1999 (Finale). SETTING: Longitudinal data were collected in nine European research towns: Hamme/Belgium (H/B), Roskilde/Denmark (R/DK), Haguenau/France (H/F), Romans/France (R/F), Padua/Italy (P/I), Culemborg/the Netherlands (C/NL), Vila Franca de Xira/Portugal (V/P), Betanzos/Spain (B/E), Yverdon/Switzerland (Y/CH). SUBJECTS: Using standardised methodologies data were collected from a random stratified sample of elderly-men and women born between 1913 and 1918 including a total of 662 subjects in 1999. RESULTS: On average stature had decreased by 1,5-2 cm. Mean weight changed by -2.6 kg to - 4.2 kg in only three towns. An increase of at least 5 kg of body weight had taken place in 13 % of both men and women whereas 23% of men and 27% women had lost at least 5 kg of their baseline weight. Such weight loss over the first 4 years of follow-up was associated with higher mortality rates in men (crude RR 2.2, p<0.0001). Serial changes in arm circumference were small but waist circumference had increased by 3-4 cm. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst small-to-modest average changes in height, body weight and circumferences emerged over SENECA's 10-year follow-up period, considerable gains and losses of body weight had occurred in a significant proportion of the SENECA populations, whereby early weight loss might be predictive of subsequent survival

Ten-year changes in anthropometric characteristics of elderly Europeans

Assess longitudinal (10-y) changes in height, body weight and circumferences in elderly Europeans.status: publishe