Greater male variability in daily energy expenditure develops through puberty

Lewis G. Halsey, School of Life and Health Sciences, University of Roehampton, London SW15 4JD, UK.
Vincent Careau, Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Philip N. Ainslie, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
Heliodoro Alemán-Mateo, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C., Mexico.
Lene F. Andersen, Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, 0317 Oslo, Norway.
Liam J. Anderson, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
Leonore Arab, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Issad Baddou, Unité Mixte de Recherche en Nutrition et Alimentation, CNESTEN-Université Ibn Tofail URAC39, Morocco.
Linda Bandini, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA.
Kweku Bedu-Addo, Department of Physiology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Ellen E. Blaak, Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism (NUTRIM), Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands.
Stephane Blanc, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, CNRS Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.
Alberto G. Bonomi, Phillips Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Carlijn V. Bouten, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven Unversity of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Pascal Bovet, University Center for promary care and public health (Unisante), Lausanne, Sweitzerland.
Soren Brage, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Maciej S. Buchowski, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
Nancy Butte, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, Houston, TX, USA.
Stephan G. Camps, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Regian Casper, Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago, IL, USA.
Graeme L. Close, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
Lisa H. Colbert, Kinesiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.
Jamie A. Cooper, Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin, USA.
Richard Cooper, Department of Public Health Sciences, Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health, Maywood, IL, USA.
Prasangi Dabare, Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka.
Sai Krupa Das, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA.
Peter S. Davies, Child Health Research Centre, Level 6 Centre for Children's Health Research, University of Queensland, 62 Graham Street, South Brisbane, Queensland.
Sanjoy Deb, Centre for Nutraceuticals, School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK.
Christine Delisle Nyström, Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
William Dietz, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.
Lara R. Dugas, Department of Public Health Sciences, Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health, Maywood, IL, USA.
Simon Eaton, UCL, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

9-1-2023

Journal

Biology letters

Volume

19

Issue

9

DOI

10.1098/rsbl.2023.0152

Keywords

age; height; inter-individual variation; morphometry; weight

Abstract

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 decreasing 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.

Department

Prevention and Community Health

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