American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 53, 425-429, Copyright © 1991 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Further evidence for the presence of "small eaters" and "large eaters" among women

V George, A Tremblay, JP Despres, M Landry, L Allard, C Leblanc and C Bouchard
Physical Activity Science Laboratory, Layal University, Ste-Foy, Quebec.

One hundred thirty-four women, aged 36 +/- 4 (mean +/- SD) y, BMI 20 +/- 3 kg/m2, perceiving themselves as having either a low or high energy intake (EI), participated in a study to determine variations in EI. Information on EI and activity level was obtained from repeated 7-d records. The 40 subjects with the lowest EI (in kcal/kg body wt) were categorized as small eaters (SEs); the 40 subjects with the highest EI were considered to be large eaters (LEs). The absolute (in kcal) and relative (in kcal/kg body wt) EIs of the SE and LE groups were 1488 +/- 312 and 27 +/- 4 for the SE group, respectively and 2393 +/- 509 and 47 +/- 6 for the LE group, respectively. There was no significant difference in activity level or fat-free mass (FFM) between the groups. However, LEs weighed significantly less (51 vs 55 kg) and were leaner (22% body fat vs 33%) than were SEs. Individuals with similar FFM and activity level can vary significantly in EI needs.