Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #113690

Nyree Dardarian, RD¹, Lynnette Riddell, PhD², and Shortie McKinney, PhD, RD, FADA¹. (1) Nutrition Center, Dept of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 215-895-2422, nd28@drexel.edu, (2) School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria, 3135, Australia

Accurate measurement of Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) is a cornerstone of nutritional assessment typically not available in the public health setting. A hand-held indirect calorimeter is an alternative to the cumbersome and expensive metabolic cart in non-clinical settings. Although this instrument is available for REE measurements, it is essential that the data produced is meaningful, accurate and reproducible. The purpose of this study was to compare the REE measurements obtained from the MedGem® (HealtheTech Inc., Golden, CO) with the VMAX Spectra metabolic cart (Model 29n, SensorMedics, Yorba Linda, CA). A convenience sample of seventy six adults (45 women. 31 men), aged 19.3 (± 0.1) years with a body mass index 22 (±0.27) kg/m2 completed duplicate REE measurements using both the MedGem® and VMAX Spectra. Subjects were instructed to avoid all food and beverage (excluding water), vigorous physical activity and medications for 12 hours prior measurement day. All VMAX Spectra measurements were collected in a reclining position following a 30 minute rest period; MedGem® measurements were collected in a seated position according to manufacturers' instructions. Results for 70 subjects with duplicate MedGem® and VMAX Spectra REE measurements were analyzed using paired t-test using SAS software (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC). The average MedGem ® REE showed no significant difference from the average VMAX Spectra REE for each subject. Average REE measurements for MedGem® were 1530 ± 34 kcals/day and 1568 ± 28 kcals/day for the VMAX Spectra. Results indicate that the MedGem® is an accurate device for measuring REE in 18 – 20 year old men and women with normal BMIs. From this data, we conclude that the MedGem® hand-held indirect calorimeter is an inexpensive device that can be used to accurately measure REE in a public health setting.

Learning Objectives:

• Participant will identify two methods for measuring resting energy expenditure(REE).
• Participant will be able to define estimated and measured resting energy expenditure (REE).
• Participant will deternube which resting energy expenditure measurement will work best in a community setting.

Keywords: Nutrition, Assessments

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.