Human Energy Compensation and Obesity
Publication date: August 27, 2021 DOI: https : //doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.016
Explanation
It has become very important to understand the impact of daily activity on energy balance, and it has been said that increasing activity levels can lead to diminishing returns on energy expenditure due to the compensatory response of inactive energy expenditure.
These suggestions have profound implications for both metabolic evolution and human health, meaning that a long-term increase in activity does not directly lead to an increase in total energy expenditure (TEE).
This is because it can be explained by other component responses of TEE that may decrease.
Using a data set from a large group of participants (n = 1,754) of adult TEE and basal energy expenditure (BEE) of people living a normal life, we found that the average energy compensation by a typical human due to a decrease in BEE is 28%.
This result implies that 72% of the extra calories consumed from the additional activity would be converted into extra calories consumed for the day. Furthermore, the degree of energy compensation varies greatly among people with different body compositions, and this association between compensation and obesity may be due to individual differences in compensation.
People who compensate more are more likely to accumulate body fat, and this process can occur within an individual.
As we gain weight, our bodies compensate more strongly for the calories consumed during activity, which means that it may be more difficult to lose fat gradually.
