Body composition, dietary intake and physical activity of young survivors of childhood cancer

To describe the body composition, dietary intake and physical activity and of paediatric, adolescent and young adult childhood cancer survivors (CCS) and examine the factors that impact body composition after treatment.This prospective cross-sectional study involved 74 subjects who were at least three years post treatment. Measurements included anthropometry, whole body potassium counting, air displacement plethysmography, and three day physical activity and diet diaries.The CCS had significantly reduced body cell mass index Z-scores compared to controls (p\ua0=\ua00.0001), with 59% considered undernourished. The CCS had a significantly higher percent fat (p\ua0=\ua00.002) than the controls, with 27% classified as obese. The intake of 60% of CCS met estimated energy requirements, but the CCS consumed high amount of energy from fat and low amount of energy from carbohydrates. A high percentage of CCS did not meet their dietary requirements for calcium (61%), magnesium (46%), folate (38%) and iodine (38%). The CCS group had a light active lifestyle with 64% spending more than 2\ua0h daily on screen time. Receiving a bone marrow transplant (r\ua0=\ua0-0.27; p\ua0=\ua00.02) and physical activity level (r\ua0=\ua00.49; p\ua0=\ua00.0001) were significantly correlated with body cell mass index.This study demonstrates that increased fat mass and decreased body cell mass is a concern for CCS and that CCS have poor health behaviours including light active lifestyles, excessive screentime, high fat intake, and poor intake of essential nutrients. This study has highlighted that CCS are at risk of both obesity and undernutrition and that increasing body cell mass as well as decreasing fat mass should be a focus of energy balance interventions in survivorship. There is a need for parents and children undergoing treatment for cancer to be educated about diet quality and importance of daily physical activity to ensure healthy habits are established and maintained into survivorship

The International Atomic Energy Agency International Doubly Labelled Water Database : Aims, Scope and Procedures

Funding Sources The database is generously supported by the IAEA and by the companies Taiyo Nippon Sanso, SERCON and ISOTEC. We are grateful to these companies for their support and especially to Takashi Oono for his tremendous efforts at fund raising on our be half. The authors also gratefully acknowledge funding from the US National Science Foundation (BCS-1824466) awarded to Herman Pontzer. The funders played no role in the content of this manuscript. Open access provided with a grant from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Author Contributions All authors contributed to the drafting and editing of the manuscript and to construction of the IAEA DLW database.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Childhood BMI and other measures of body composition as a predictor of cardiometabolic non-communicable diseases in adulthood: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: There is growing evidence that childhood malnutrition is associated with non-communicable diseases (NCD) in adulthood and that body composition mediates some of this association. This review aims to determine if childhood body composition can be used to predict later-life cardiometabolic NCD and which measures of body composition predicts future NCD. DESIGN: Electronic databases were searched for articles where: children aged under 5 years had body composition measured; cardiometabolic health outcomes were measured a minimum of 10 years later. SETTING: The databases Embase, Medline and Global Health were searched through July 2020. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged under 5 years with a follow-up of minimum 10 years. RESULTS: Twenty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Though a poor proxy measure of body composition, body mass index (BMI) was commonly reported (n 28, 97 %). 25 % of these studies included an additional measure (ponderal index or skinfold thickness). Few studies adjusted for current body size (n 11, 39 %). CONCLUSIONS: Many studies reported that low infant BMI and high childhood BMI were associated with an increased risk of NCD-related outcomes in later life but no conclusions can be made about the exact timing of child malnutrition and consequent impact on NCD. Because studies focussed on BMI rather than direct measures of body composition, nothing can be said about which measures of body composition in childhood are most useful. Future research on child nutrition and long-term outcomes is urgently needed and should include validated body composition assessments as well as standard anthropometric and BMI measurements

Human total, basal and activity energy expenditures are independent of ambient environmental temperature

Acknowledgments The DLW database, which can be found at https://www.dlwdatabase.org, is hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and generously supported by Taiyo Nippon Sanso and SERCON . We are grateful to the IAEA and these companies for their support. XYZ was supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant CAS 153E11KYSB20190045 to J.R.S.), and the database was also supported by the US National Science Foundation (grant BCS-1824466 to H.P.). The funders played no role in the content of this manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Variability in energy expenditure is much greater in males than females

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. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Variability in energy expenditure is much greater in males than females

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Energy compensation and adiposity in humans

Acknowledgments The DLW database, which can be found at https://doubly-labelled-water-database.iaea.org/home, is hosted by the IAEA and generously supported by Taiyo Nippon Sanso and SERCON. We are grateful to the IAEA and these companies for their support and especially to Takashi Oono for his tremendous efforts at fundraising on our behalf. The authors also gratefully acknowledge funding from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS 153E11KYSB20190045) to J.R.S. and the US National Science Foundation (BCS-1824466) awarded to H.P. The funders played no role in the content of this manuscript. We are grateful for the data submission of David Ludwig and Cara Ebbeling, and for the analysis by Steve Heymsfield of his own data indicating no change in FFM hydration with age in adults.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Variation in human water turnover associated with environmental and lifestyle factors

Water is essential for survival, but one in three individuals worldwide (2.2 billion people) lacks access to safe drinking water. Water intake requirements largely reflect water turnover (WT), the water used by the body each day. We investigated the determinants of human WT in 5604 people from the ages of 8 days to 96 years from 23 countries using isotope-tracking (2H) methods. Age, body size, and composition were significantly associated with WT, as were physical activity, athletic status, pregnancy, socioeconomic status, and environmental characteristics (latitude, altitude, air temperature, and humidity). People who lived in countries with a low human development index (HDI) had higher WT than people in high-HDI countries. On the basis of this extensive dataset, we provide equations to predict human WT in relation to anthropometric, economic, and environmental factors.acceptedVersio

Greater male variability in daily energy expenditure develops through puberty

There is considerably greater variation in metabolic rates between men than between women, in terms of basal, activity and total (daily) energy expenditure (EE). One possible explanation is that EE is associated with male sexual characteristics (which are known to vary more than other traits) such as musculature and athletic capacity. Such traits might be predicted to be most prominent during periods of adolescence and young adulthood, when sexual behaviour develops and peaks. We tested this hypothesis on a large dataset by comparing the amount of male variation and female variation in total EE, activity EE and basal EE, at different life stages, along with several morphological traits: height, fat free mass and fat mass. Total EE, and to some degree also activity EE, exhibit considerable greater male variation (GMV) in young adults, and then a decrease in the degree of GMV in progressively older individuals. Arguably, basal EE, and also morphometrics, do not exhibit this pattern. These findings suggest that single male sexual characteristics may not exhibit peak GMV in young adulthood, however total and perhaps also activity EE, associated with many morphological and physiological traits combined, do exhibit GMV most prominently during the reproductive life stages