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7 - Energy Expenditure and Body Composition: History, Methods, and Inter-relationships

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

By
Peter S. W. Davies  and
Alexia J. Murphy
Edited by
Michael P. Muehlenbein
Michael P. Muehlenbein
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington
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Summary

ENERGY EXPENDITURE AND BODY COMPOSITION

Energy expenditure and body composition are closely related. The energy expenditure of virtually any animal can be measured but of course this energy is not being expended equally throughout the body. Organs such as the brain, liver, heart, and kidneys have, relative to their weight, a high-energy output, whilst, for example, muscle mass, although being a substantial component of body weight, has on a per kilogram basis a lower energy output. When these individual organs or organ systems are combined, essentially the fat free mass (FFM) is the major contributor to energy expenditure, with the remaining fat mass (FM) being more energetically inert. Thus, methods of studying both energy metabolism and body composition have often developed in parallel, with the need being to adjust one for the other. This chapter aims to provide a history of some of those methods as well as some theoretical and practical information regarding their use before finally considering how they relate and how the relationships influence our understanding of both areas of biology.

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF ENERGY METABOLISM

There are a number of fundamental maxims that underpin large areas of modern science. It is significant that many of these laws and principles were described in a concise form in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when some of the great men and women of science were laying down the foundations and laws that govern much of modern physical and biological studies.

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Human Evolutionary Biology , pp. 113 - 126
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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