title: Greater body mass index is related to greater self-identified cold tolerance and greater insensible body mass loss.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Insensible body mass loss (IBL) from the human body continuously occurs, which is an important component in body heat exchange. The purpose of this study was to examine the relevance of IBL to anthropometric characteristics and self-identified thermal tolerance.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 289 healthy young Korean males were chosen and sorted into the following three groups: heat tolerable only (HTO, N = 79), cold tolerable only (CTO, N = 104), neither heat nor cold tolerable (NHC, N = 106). They weighed before and after a 30-min rest under lightly clothed condition at an air temperature of 23 ± 1 °C with a relative humidity 55 ± 5 %RH.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1) The IBL of 289 males had a mean of 90 ± 75 g h(-1) (48 ± 40 g h(-1) m(-2)); (2) No significant difference in IBL among the three groups were found; (3) Significant differences in body weight and body mass index (BMI) among three groups were found (P < 0.05), but insignificance was found for height (P = 0.726) or body surface area (P = 0.059); (4) CTO was approximately 4.1 kg heavier in body weight (P < 0.05) and higher in BMI (P < 0.01) than in HTO; (5) Only for the group CTO, IBL (g h(-1)) showed a positive relationship to BMI (P < 0.05, R (2) = 0.056), but there was no relationship between IBL and body surface area.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For healthy young males within normal anthropometric ranges in Korea, IBL was positively related to BMI, and individuals with greater BMI showed greater self-identified cold tolerance, but no direct relationship was found between IBL and self-identified cold tolerance. This suggests that body physique (e.g., BMI) could be an explanatory factor between insensible body heat loss and subjective cognition on cold tolerance.
authors.affiliation: College of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Dahee
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: College of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Dami
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Joonhee
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: College of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. leex3140@snu.ac.kr.|Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. leex3140@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Joo Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001831:Body Temperature; D003080:Cold Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015431:Weight Loss; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Body mass index; Body weight; Insensible body mass loss; Insensible perspiration; Psychological polymorphism; Thermal tolerance