Lower Sedentary Metabolic Rate in Women Compared with Men

Abstract

Since females have a greater prevalence of obesity compared with males, the question arises whether females have lower metabolic rate than males after adjusting for differences in body weight and composition. 24-h energy expenditure (24EE), basal metabolic rate (BMR), and sleeping metabolic rate (SMR) were measured in a respiratory chamber in 235 healthy, nondiabetic Caucasian subjects (114 males, 121 females). Body composition was determined by hydrodensitometry. 24EE was 124 +/-38 kcal/d (P less than 0.002) higher in males than females after adjusting for differences in fat-free mass, fat mass, and age. Spontaneous physical activity was not significantly different between males and females. Since adjusted 24EE was 106 +/-39 kcal/d (P less than 0.01) higher in females during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle compared with females during the follicular phase, energy expenditure was analyzed in a subset (greater than 50 yr) to minimize the confounding effect of menstrual status. 24EE (160 +/-66 kcal/d; P less than 0.03), BMR (116 +/-45; P less than 0.02), and SMR (208 +/-68 kcal/d; P less than 0.005) were higher in males compared with females of the older subset after adjusting for differences in body composition, age, and activity. In summary, sedentary 24EE is approximately 5-10% lower in females compared with males after adjusting for differences in body composition, age, and activity.

Physical activity energy expenditure vs cardiorespiratory fitness level in impaired glucose metabolism

“…The finding of similar levels of PAEE and CRF in individuals with i-IFG and NGT, but lower levels in the i-IGT group, may explain the different pathophysiology of individuals with i-IFG vs i-IGT observed in previous studies [4,[6][7][8]. The lower PAEE and the lower amount of time spent in activities of moderate-to-vigorous intensity (≥3 METs) observed in the i-IGT group was partly explained by a higher proportion of women, higher age and waist circumference, which supports previous findings [30]. Individuals with i-IGT, IFG + IGT and SDM only spent 2.6% of the time in activities of moderate-to-vigorous intensity (≥3 METs), which could partly explain the lower CRF levels.…”

No effect of gender on different components of daily energy expenditure in free living prepubertal children

“…However, in a respiratory chamber 24 h energy expenditure (total energy expenditure, TEE) and REE were higher in males compared with females after adjusting for differences in body composition, age and activity. 1 These data provided evidence for an in¯uence of gender on energy expenditure independent of sex-differences in FFM.…”

“…1 Sex differences have been mainly explained by individual differences in fat-free mass (FFM), which is the major determinant of resting energy expenditure (REE). However, in a respiratory chamber 24 h energy expenditure (total energy expenditure, TEE) and REE were higher in males compared with females after adjusting for differences in body composition, age and activity.…”

Clinical significance of adaptive thermogenesis

“…Indeed, it has been well demonstrated that the decrease in EE during energy restriction and weight loss programs can be greater than expected from the decrease in fat mass and fat-free mass, [3][4][5] despite these two variables accounting for over 82% of the variance in EE. [6][7][8][9][10] This paper thus specifically focuses on an adaptive reduction in EE in response to energy restriction that can be observed in any component of total EE, 3,4,11,12 traditionally divided into resting and non-resting EEs (including physical activity and non-exercise activity EEs), and thermic effect of food.…”