American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 53, 21-26, Copyright © 1991 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Reappraisal of the resting metabolic rate of normal young men

HD Clark and LJ Hoffer
McGill Nutrition and Food Science Centre, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The Harris-Benedict (HB) equation, widely used to estimate the resting metabolic rate (RMR), has been disputed by Owen et al who reported that it overestimates the RMR of men aged less than 50 y by approximately 9%. We measured the RMR of 29 healthy, nonsmoking men aged 18-33 y by direct oxygen consumption with a closed-circuit technique similar to that used by Harris and Benedict (respirometer), as well as by a ventilated-hood technique. RMR determined by the ventilated-hood technique was 5.6% lower than when determined by the respirometer (1643 +/- 148 vs 1721 +/- 145 kcal/d, respectively, means +/- SD; P less than 0.001). RMRs by both these methods were lower than the value of 1813 +/- 164 kcal/d predicted by the HB equation; the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for RMR were 92.4-98.1% (respirometer) and 88.5-91.1% (ventilated hood) of the value predicted by the HB equation. The 95% CI for RMR determined by ventilated hood was 98.4-103.5% of the value predicted by using a new equation proposed by Owen et al. We conclude that the HB equation overestimates RMR by 9.2% in normal young men. This could be due in part to the inherent discomfort experienced by subjects when the original technique was used.

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