Daily energy expenditure through the human life course.
Herman PontzerYosuke YamadaHiroyuki SagayamaPhilip N AinslieLene Frost AndersenLiam J AndersonLenore ArabIssaad BaddouKweku Bedu-AddoEllen E BlaakStephane BlancAlberto G BonomiCarlijn V C BoutenPascal BovetMaciej S BuchowskiNancy F ButteStefan Gerardus CampsGraeme L CloseJamie A CooperRichard S CooperSai Krupa DasLara R DugasUlf EkelundSonja EntringerTerrence ForresterBarry W FudgeAnnelies Hc GorisMichael D GurvenCatherine HamblyAsmae ElhamdouchiMarjije B HoosSumei HuNoorjehan JoonasAnnemiek M JoosenPeter Todd KatzmarzykKitty P KempenMisaka KimuraWilliam E KrausRobert F KushnerEstelle Victoria LambertWilliam R LeonardNader LessanCorby K MartinAnine Christine MedinErwin P MeijerJames C MorehenJames P MortonMarian L NeuhouserTheresa A NicklasRobert M OjiamboKirsi H PietiläinenYannis P PitsiladisJacob Plange-RhuleGuy PlasquiRoss L PrenticeRoberto A RabinovichSusan B RacetteDavid A RaichlenEric RavussinRebecca M ReynoldsSusan B RobertsAlbertine J SchuitAnders M SjödinEric SticeSamuel S UrlacherGiulio ValentiLudo M Van EttenEdgar G Van MilJonathan C K WellsGeorge WilsonBrian M WoodJack A YanovskiTsukasa YoshidaXueying ZhangAlexia J Murphy-AlfordCornelia U LoechlAmy H LukeJennifer C RoodDale A SchoellerKlaas R WesterterpWilliam W WongJohn R Speakmannull nullPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2021)
Total daily energy expenditure ("total expenditure") reflects daily energy needs and is a critical variable in human health and physiology, but its trajectory over the life course is poorly studied. We analyzed a large, diverse database of total expenditure measured by the doubly labeled water method for males and females aged 8 days to 95 years. Total expenditure increased with fat-free mass in a power-law manner, with four distinct life stages. Fat-free mass-adjusted expenditure accelerates rapidly in neonates to ~50% above adult values at ~1 year; declines slowly to adult levels by ~20 years; remains stable in adulthood (20 to 60 years), even during pregnancy; then declines in older adults. These changes shed light on human development and aging and should help shape nutrition and health strategies across the life span.