American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 25, 390-394, Copyright © 1972 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Calorie intake, obesity, and physical activity

¹ Vice President, Finance and Planning, Philip Morris, U.S.A., formerly Director of Marketing Research, Philip Morris, Incorporated

A questionnaire study of food and beverage intake among 867 men indicated that the more obese consumed no more calories than the less obese groups. This appeared to be due to restraint on their part rather than lack of appetite. In this study, physical activity levels of the more obese groups were not lower than those of the less obese groups. A direct relationship in our data between food intake and activity levels suggests the hypothesis that if, among some groups, obesity leads to extreme food intake restriction, it may then depress activity levels. The lower physical activity levels found in some other studies for obese groups could thus be primarily related to much lower calorie intakes for the obese groups in those studies and unavailable to account for the obesity differences. The sharply lower calorie intake per unit of body weight of the obese individual may indicate that, despite his obesity, his vital tissues are inadequately supplied with nutrients.