Energy expenditure and physical activity in recovering malnourished infants

Background. malnourished infants are small for age and weight. objectives. determine profiles in 24-hour energy metabolism in recovering malnourished infants and compare to similarly aged healthy controls. methods. 10 malnourished infants (58.1 ± 5.9 cm,7.7 ± 5.6 months) were healthy prior to spending 22 hours in the enhanced metabolic testing activity chamber for measurement of ee (kcal/min),sleeping metabolic rate (smr; kcal/min),respiratory quotient (rq; vco 2 / vo 2),and physical activity (pa; oscillations in wt/min/kg body weight). metabolic data were extrapolated to 24 hours (kcal/kg/d). energy intake (kcal/kg/d) and the proportions (%) of carbohydrate,protein,and fat were calculated. anthropometrics for malnourished infants were obtained. statistical differences (p <.05) between groups were determined (spss,version 13). results. in comparison to controls,malnourished infants were lighter (4.1 ± 1.2 versus 7.3 ± 0.8 kg; p <.05),had less body fat % (10.3 ± 7.6 versus 25.7 ± 2.5),and lower bmi (12.0 ± 1.7 versus 15.5 ± 1.5; p <.05). in contrast,they had greater energy intake (142.7 ± 14.6 versus 85.1 ± 25.8; p <.05) with a greater percentage of carbohydrates (55.1 ± 3.9 versus 47.2 ± 5.2; p <.05). however,malnourished infants had greater 24-hour ee (101.3 ± 20.1 versus 78.6 ± 8.4; p <.05),smr (92.6 ± 17.1 versus 65.0 ± 3.9; p <.05),and rq (1.00 ± 0.13 versus 0.86 ± 0.08; p <.05) along with a lower amount of pa (2.3 ± 0.94 versus 4.0 ± 1.5; p <.05). conclusions. malnourished infants require more energy,possibly for growth. copyright © 2010 r. rising and g. t. sonmez.