American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 55, 1078-1085, Copyright © 1992 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Twenty-four-hour energy expenditure in pregnant and nonpregnant Gambian women, measured in a whole-body indirect calorimeter

A Heini, Y Schutz and E Jequier
Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Twenty-four-hour energy expenditure (EE), daily and sleeping EE, and the energy cost of a standardized treadmill exercise were assessed in a respiration chamber in 41 young pregnant Gambian women at 12 (n = 11), 24 (n = 15), and 36 (n = 15) wk of gestation and compared with 13 nonpregnant nonlactating (NPNL) control women. The rate of 24-h EE was significantly higher (P less than 0.001) at 36 wk gestation (8443 +/- 243 kJ/d) than in the NPNL group (6971 +/- 172 kJ/d) or at 12 and 24 wk (7088 +/- 222 and 7188 +/- 192 kJ/d, respectively). Per unit body weight, no more differences in 24-h EE, daily and sleeping EE, or energy cost of walking were observed between pregnant and NPNL women. There was no statistical difference in the 24-h respiratory quotient among the groups. We conclude that the state of pregnancy in Gambian women induces a progressive rise in 24-h EE, which becomes significant in the third trimester and is proportional to body weight.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. E. Kopp-Hoolihan, M. D. van Loan, W. W. Wong, and J. C. King Fat mass deposition during pregnancy using a four-component model J Appl Physiol, July 1, 1999; 87(1): 196 - 202. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. F Butte, J. M Hopkinson, N. Mehta, J. K Moon, and E O'B. Smith Adjustments in energy expenditure and substrate utilization during late pregnancy and lactation Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, February 1, 1999; 69(2): 299 - 307. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]