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. 2024 Dec;154(12):3824-3831.
doi: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.10.016. Epub 2024 Oct 15.

Decline in Isotope Dilution Space Ratio Above Age 60 Could Affect Energy Estimates Using the Doubly Labeled Water Method

William W Wong  1 , John R Speakman  2 , Philip N Ainslie  3 , Liam J Anderson  4 , Leonore Arab  5 , Issad Baddou  6 , Kweku Bedu-Addo  7 , Ellen E Blaak  8 , Stephane Blanc  9 , Alberto G Bonomi  10 , Carlijn Vc Bouten  11 , Pascal Bovet  12 , Maciej S Buchowski  13 , Nancy F Butte  14 , Stefan G Camps  15 , Regina Casper  16 , Graeme L Close  3 , Lisa H Colbert  17 , Jamie A Cooper  18 , Sai K Das  19 , Peter Sw Davies  20 , Simon Eaton  21 , Ulf Ekelund  22 , Catherine Hambly  23 , Asmaa El Hamdouchi  6 , Sonja Entringer  24 , Barry W Fudge  25 , Melanie Gillingham  26 , Annelies H Goris  8 , Micheal Gurven  27 , Marije B Hoos  8 , Sumei Hu  28 , Annemiek Joosen  8 , Peter T Katzmarzyk  29 , Kitty P Kempen  8 , Misaka Kimura  30 , William E Kraus  31 , Robert F Kushner  32 , Christel L Larsson  33 , James C Morehen  3 , James P Morton  3 , Marian L Neuhouser  34 , Theresa A Nicklas  14 , Robert M Ojiambo  35 , Kirsi H Pietilainen  36 , Yannis P Pitsiladis  37 , Guy Plasqui  38 , Ross L Prentice  34 , Roberto Rabinovich  39 , Susan B Racette  40 , David A Raichen  41 , Leanne Redman  29 , Eric Ravussin  29 , John J Reilly  42 , Susan Roberts  43 , Albertine J Scuitt  44 , Anders M Sjödin  45 , Eric Stice  46 , Samuel S Urlacher  47 , Giulio Valenti  8 , Ludo M van Etten  8 , Edgar A Van Mil  48 , Jeanine A Verbunt  8 , Jonathan Ck Wells  49 , George Wilson  3 , Tsukasa Yoshida  50 , Xueying Zhang  51 , Cornelia U Loechl  52 , Amy Luke  53 , Alexia J Murphy-Alford  52 , Herman Pontzer  54 , Hiroyuki Sagayama  55 , Jennifer C Rood  29 , Dale A Schoeller  56 , Klaas R Westerterp  8 , Yosuke Yamada  57 ; IAEA DLW Database Consortium
Affiliations

Decline in Isotope Dilution Space Ratio Above Age 60 Could Affect Energy Estimates Using the Doubly Labeled Water Method

William W Wong et al. J Nutr. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Doubly labeled water is gold standard for measuring total energy expenditure (TEE). Measurements using the method are sensitive to the isotope dilution space ratio (DSR). Accuracy and precision of the method might be improved if we could identify factors influencing DSR.

Objectives: We evaluated the potential associations of age, sex, ethnicity, anthropometry, body composition, turnover rates of the isotopes, and geographical elevation with DSR.

Methods: We used univariate regression analysis to explore the relationships between the continuous variables and analysis of variance to test the relationships between the categorical variables with DSR. Subsequently, we used general linear model (GLM) and 1-way analysis of variance to evaluate the simultaneous associations of age, sex, ethnicity, fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) on DSR.

Results: From 5678 measurements complied from studies around the world with diverse ethnicity and living at various elevations, the mean DSR was 1.0364 ± 0.0141. No meaningful physiologic effect of any of the continuous and categorical variable on DSR was detected. General linear model analysis revealed no effect of FFM and FM (P > 0.33) on DSR, but DSR decreased with age (P < 0.001) among those aged 60 y and older regardless of sex. Among the Whites who were younger than 60 y, DSR was not related to FFM and FM (P = 0.73) but was affected by both age and sex (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Previous estimates of age-related decline in TEE may have overestimated TEE at age 90 y. Validation studies on older participants are required to confirm this finding.

Keywords: doubly labeled water; energy expenditure; isotope dilution space ratio.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest WWW reports administrative support was provided by Baylor College of Medicine. JRS reports administrative support and article publishing charges were provided by University of Aberdeen. MLN is a Deputy Editor of the Journal of Nutrition but played no role in the Journal’s evaluation of the manuscript. The other authors report no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Scatter plots of isotope dilution space ratio (DSR) compared with age among Whites. (A) Data from all White regardless of age. (B) Data from Whites who were aged 60 y and older. (C) Data from Whites younger than 60 y. The solid upside down triangles in each panel denote data from females, whereas the open circles denote data from males. The dotted lines in each panel represent the regression lines for the females and the solid lines the regression lines for the male.
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