An anthropologist explains On Habré, a representative of Get me IT published a translation of an article by Ann Gibbons on weight loss and research on human fat burning. Read more in the material.Discuss
Anthropologist Herman Ponzer of Duke University studies the amount of energy expended by humans and animals in various activities and situations. For example, during stress, playing sports, developing an immune response to a vaccine, etc. At the same time, the conclusions drawn on the basis of the data obtained are sometimes surprising.
If we talk about the metabolism in general during life, then it is fastest in babies. Also, in general, the total energy costs (TEC) of people decrease after age 60. SEZs represent the number of kilocalories that human cells burn per day.
Scientists previously believed that a person burns about the same number of calories (kilocalories) per day as other primates. However, the fact is that people have other energy expenditures: they are directed to the brain – 20 percent of daily energy consumption is spent on it daily.
Herman Ponzer decided to find out how things really are. At the moment, he uses a special method that makes it easy to find out the number of calories burned. It consists in the fact that people drink a special cocktail of water, where different isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen replace the usual forms. The scientists then take urine samples from the test subjects for seven days. Based on the results of urine analysis (in particular, the ratio of labeled hydrogen and oxygen in it), researchers determine how many calories a person burned daily on average.
According to the results of experiments with monkeys, conducted by Ponzer, the expert came to the conclusion that humans actually burn more calories than other primates. For example, 20 percent more chimpanzees and bonobos, 40 percent more gorillas, 60 percent more orangutans. But people also store more energy in the form of fat.
The total energy consumption of a person includes the metabolic rate, and other activities, including physical exercises. In addition, according to the scientist, the difference in the amount of fat gained between humans and animals is also significant. So, men actually gain twice as much fat, and women three times as much as primates. According to the expert, more body fat is associated with a faster metabolism.
In 2010, Ponzer traveled to Tanzania to study the energy consumption of Hadza hunter-gatherers there. These people move a lot: they manage to walk about 8 km (women) and about 14 km (men) in one day. After the urine analysis of the hunters, it turned out that they actually burn on average about the same number of calories as the inhabitants of the USA, Russia, Japan, and European countries. The scientist came to exactly the same conclusions after studying other groups of hunter-gatherers and foragers.the body simply adjusts to the level of physical activity and already spends fewer calories on some tasks. For example, inflammation or stress. This was confirmed on the basis of a study of a group of people who were preparing for a half marathon. The longer they exercised, the fewer calories they burned per day.
At the same time, according to evolutionary physiologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences John Speakman, athletic people are less likely to gain excess weight than less active people. And those who exercise while dieting are better at maintaining weight. In addition, physical activity can affect the location of fat in the body, as well as the development of diabetes, cardiovascular disease.
Hermann Ponzer notes that diet is the best way to control weight. Physical exercise, on the other hand, can only maintain overall health.
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Source: Habr