Centile reference charts for total energy expenditure in infants from 1 to 12 months.
BACKGROUND
A knowledge of energy expenditure in infancy is required for the estimation of recommended daily amounts of food energy, for designing artificial infant feeds, and as a reference standard for studies of energy metabolism in disease states.


OBJECTIVE
The objectives of this study were to construct centile reference charts for total energy expenditure (TEE) in infants across the first year of life.


METHODS
Repeated measures of TEE using the doubly labeled water technique were made in 162 infants at 1.5, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. In total, 322 TEE measurements were obtained. The LMS method with maximum penalized likelihood was used to construct the centile reference charts. Centiles were constructed for TEE expressed as MJ/day and also expressed relative to body weight (BW) and fat-free mass (FFM).


RESULTS
TEE increased with age and was 1.40,1.86, 2.64, 3.07 and 3.65 MJ/day at 1.5, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, respectively. The standard deviations were 0.43, 0.47, 0.52,0.66 and 0.88, respectively. TEE in MJ/kg increased from 0.29 to 0.36 and in MJ/day/kg FFM from 0.36 to 0.48.


CONCLUSIONS
We have presented centile reference charts for TEE expressed as MJ/day and expressed relative to BW and FFM in infants across the first year of life. There was a wide variation or biological scatter in TEE values seen at all ages. We suggest that these centile charts may be used to assess and possibly quantify abnormal energy metabolism in disease states in infants.
Reichman
C A
CA
Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Children's Nutrition Research Centre, University of Queensland, Royal Children's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia.
Davies
P S W
PS
Wells
J C K
JC
Atkin
L-M
LM
Cleghorn
G
G
Shepherd
R W
RW
D000284:Administration, Oral; D017677:Age Distribution; D000886:Anthropometry; D001315:Australia; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017666:Deuterium Oxide / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D010103:Oxygen Isotopes / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D012016:Reference Values; D006113:United Kingdom
D010103:Oxygen Isotopes; D017666:Deuterium Oxide