Understanding the Regulation of Body Weight: A Focus on Eating Patterns, Energy Intake, and Metabolic Rate

摘要

The clinically observed eating pattern of gorging (eating fewer, larger meals later in the day) is ill defined in the literature and inconsistently linked to metabolic rate suppression and body composition. The purpose of this study was to further understand the relationship between gorging, metabolic rate, and body composition with a consideration of daily physical activity and purposeful exercise. Gorging was defined as two or fewer meals per day with at least seven hours between waking and the first meal for at least three days per week. It was hypothesized that gorgers would have (1) lower metabolic rates, (2) more body fat, (3) lower energy and higher fat intakes, and (4) more pathological eating attitudes than non-gorgers. Participants were 12 obese gorging (OG), 11 obese non-gorging (ON), 14 normal weight gorging (NG), and 14 normal weight non-gorging (NN; age-matched), non-smoking, otherwise healthy women. Metabolic testing included assessment of resting metabolic rate (RMR), active metabolic rate (AMR) while riding a stationary bicycle at a rate of 50 rpm and workload of 1kg, and dietary induced thermogenesis (DIT) where postprandial metabolic rate was assessed. Results were partially supported. Contrary to the first hypothesis, the eating pattern groups did not differ by RMR F(1,47) = 3.96, p = 0.05, AMR F(1, 47) = 2.03, p = 0.16, or DIT F(1, 47) = 0.40, p = 0.53 after covarying lean body mass. Lean body mass was the best predictor of metabolic rate accounting for 72% of the variance. These findings are limited by the small effect sizes for these analyses.