Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.3, Theme 10.
Assessment of energy requirements in adults
Assessment of energy requirements in adults and elderly and evaluation of the validity of different predictive equations used to estimate resting energy expenditure vs. a gold standard (wearable metabolic technology, indirect calorimetry combined with accelerometry) in adults and elderly population.
Definition of energy requirements in older adults considering REE and physical activity to maintain fat free mass (M24)
Protocols and schemes for predictive equations to estimate REE in adults and elderly (M36)
An adequate energy intake is crucial for the prevention of undernutrition and of the excessive intake of food energy that is a major determinant of nutrition-related chronic diseases. Estimation of the basal metabolic rate (BMR) using prediction equations is the basis for calculating energy requirement, assessed by factorial method through the use of metabolic constants to take account of energy costs of individual activities. Schofield's equations (Schofield et al., Human Nutrition: Clinical Nutrition. 39 1985) are the most used to predict BMR, also applied in the Italian Reference intake levels of nutrients and energy (LARN). However, there are controversies in the literature regarding their use, especially on the possible influence of the BMR data of 18-30 yrs Italian males that were higher per kg/body weight respect to those of the other Caucasian groups (Hayter et al., Eur J Clin Nutr 1994). Therefore, it is needed to clarify the issue of a possible overestimation of the energy requirements through these equations.
