Wells, JC;
Davies, PS;
Hopkins, M;
Blundell, JE;
(2021)
The "drive to eat" hypothesis: energy expenditure and fat-free mass but not adiposity are associated with milk intake and energy intake in 12 week infants.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
10.1093/ajcn/nqab067.
(In press).
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recent work has challenged the long-held assumption that appetite functions to maintain stable body mass and fat mass (FM), suggesting instead that appetite matches food intake to energy expenditure and its correlate, fat-free mass (FFM). Whether this scenario applies to young infants, in chronic positive energy balance, remains unknown. OBJECTIVES: To test associations of components of energy expenditure and body composition with milk intake (MI) and energy intake (EI) in 12-week infants, by reanalyzing published cross-sectional data. METHODS: Data were available for 48 infants. In addition to anthropometric measurements, we assessed MI and EI by test-weighing, sleeping metabolic rate (SMR) by indirect calorimetry, and FFM, FM, and total energy expenditure (TEE) by doubly labeled water. Mean parental height was calculated as a marker of infant growth drive. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were applied. RESULTS: MI and EI correlated with FFM (r = 0.47 and 0.57, respectively; P < 0.01), but not FM (P > 0.6). MI and EI correlated with SMR (r = 0.42 and 0.53, respectively; P < 0.01) and TEE (r = 0.50 and 0.49, respectively; P < 0.01). SMR and TEE correlated with FFM (r = 0.41 and 0.42, respectively; P < 0.01), but not FM (P > 0.2). In a multiple regression analysis, MI was independently associated with TEE (partial r = 0.39) and FFM (partial r = 0.35). EI showed similar associations. Mean parental height was correlated with weight gain, MI, and EI. CONCLUSIONS: As in adults, MI and EI in young infants were strongly associated with FFM and with total and sleeping components of energy expenditure, but not with fatness. The infant's growth drive contributed to these associations. This suggests that appetite is regulated by the rate of energy expenditure, the size of energy-using tissues, and tissue deposition rate, and that the high levels of body fat characteristic of infants may not constrain weight gain.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The "drive to eat" hypothesis: energy expenditure and fat-free mass but not adiposity are associated with milk intake and energy intake in 12 week infants |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/ajcn/nqab067 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqab067 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | appetite control, energy expenditure, energy intake, fat mass, fat-free mass, infant |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10126689 |
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