1989 Volume 35 Issue 4 Pages 371-381
A long-term experiment was carried out to study the effects of alterations in energy intake and meal contents on basal metabolic rate (BMR) of a normal woman. Alterations of energy intake induced changes in BMR and pulse rate in addition to body weight changes. Whether BMR was expressed per whole body, per unit body weight, or per unit body surface area, it increased progressively during long-term overeating periods, and decreased markedly during long-term undereating periods. These results suggest that there exists `Luxuskonsumption', or adaptive diet-induced thermogenesis, during an overeating period and hypometabolism during an undereating period. BMR was affected significantly by the menstrual cycle but not by nutrient composition when daily energy intake was fixed at 2000 kcal for a long time.
