Jennifer Henry

SNT161 01

Professor Bowman

Energy Expenditure
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Energy Expenditure is how the human person takes their daily calorie intake and

distributes this energy throughout their daily activities and exercise. This topic was chosen as I

often wondered what the best way to use my energy management was in my performance. As a

female, I want to know what the best way to properly manage my caloric intake among my

performance would be. I looked at three case studies in Poland, Japan, and Idaho. All of these

studies looked at athletes, two just female and the other both genders and the best way for them

to use their energy. The female athlete was intriguing as it discussed the medical issues that

might be most prominent within female athlete energy expenditure, such as gynecological issues.

I predict that energy expenditure, like most things regarding human biology, to differ based off

varying factors; age, weight, race, gender. The topic of Energy Expenditure is important as it

discusses how we can use our caloric intake to increase our performance.

The University of Physical Education in Krakow, Poland’s Department of Sports

Medicine and Human Nutrition and Biochemistry researched how a competitive athlete engaged

in different types of endurance and power sports with respect to their daily energy expenditure

(DEE). This study was funded by the University of Physical Education in Krakow, under the title

“Analysis of the training and daily energy expenditure athletes depending on the sport discipline

and applied measurement method,” and their project manager was Andrzej Grzelak. The study

was done with 30 human athletes (15 men and 15 women) whose energy expenditure as based on

their heart rate. This method of basis is relatively accurate and causes little discomfort the tested

person. This study also sought to establish a relationship between the athletes’ training energy

expenditure (TEE) and DEE and sports disciplines.

To start the testing, body fat, fat free mass, and body composition analyzers determined

the subject’s body mass. From here, the subjects were split by sex and sports discipline. They
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engaged in training periods that aligned with the demand of their sport. Training energy

expenditure and DEE were found in the participant’s by having them wear heart rate monitors

twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. From this, they would record the data of the

subjects based on their oxygen level intake and the variety of training they experienced. When

recording the data, researchers had to note that there is a visible difference in men and women

calorie expenditure.

The conclusion that relative energy expenditure, which largely depends on Body Mass, is

influenced by the athlete’s sports discipline and sex, expects athletes to have specific Body Mass.

Because the mean values of the TEE are not significantly different between the groups of both

male and female athletes is possibly concluded that during the beginning phase of training, male

and female athletes engaged in endurance and power sports have corresponding levels of the

TEE (slightly higher for endurance athletes). Intensity and duration of training are factors in how

these levels are similar. The statistical research did not find these two factors, both of which have

major influence on energy expenditure, to be significantly different between group. For most

athletes, strength training and endurance training involved the lowest and highest energy cost.

The second case study was funded by the University of Tokyo in Tokyo, Japan. The

female athlete triad (FAT) is defined by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) as

low energy availability (low EA), functional hypothalamic amenorrhoea and osteoporosis, which

is not activating the proper bone mass in a female body. This study looked at 20 various female

athletes food and exercise logs to medically look at the toll on their bodies. In athletes with one

of the factors of FAT, the risk of a stress fracture is 2.4–4.9 times higher and may increase the

risk of fracture throughout the lifespan. Low energy is the foundation of FAT, and the concept
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emphasizes the importance of energy intake that is necessary with exercise energy expenditure in

female athletes.

In amenorrheic athletes who undergo gynecological examination, it is important to

appropriately evaluate whether the cause is low energy availability in females and to review

exercise energy expenditure and energy intake. It remains difficult even for experts to calculate

available energy using the ACSM definition formula when evaluation energy deficiency.

Parallel, performing early FAT screening during teenage years and cooperation between the

department of obstetrics, gynecology and sports dietitians are also issues. Overall, the female

body is a complicated area, and this study had very few conclusions on what the appropriate

amount of energy expenditure is needed.

Another case study done at the University of Idaho studied the movement of 19 female

athletes through triaxial accelerometers to collect energy expenditure data; along with exercise

and foods logs. This was done for three weekdays and one weekend day for four days. Overall.

The study was to calculate exercise energy expenditure for female athletes to describe the

benefits and limitations experienced by these athletes. The study was funded by the Batch

Funding Project by the USDA and Institute of Food and Agriculture from Idaho. This study

calculated the body mass index to see how the athletes were best using their caloric intake during

exercise to see what foods benefitted exercise expenditure. It used three exercise energy

expenditure criteria (EEE), total activity EEE, structured planned EEE, and METs >3 EEE. In

the end, the conclusion was that the three energy expenditure criteria were statically significantly

different. They ranged anywhere from 678 to 413. The results became overall inclusive. Like the

other studies, this study concluded by stating the need for further research to identify a

standardized method for quantifying female athletes exercise energy expenditure.

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Training energy expenditure and the daily energy expenditure levels proved to differ

significantly among athletes from different sports as well as between athletes in the same sport.

This indicates the need to monitor the real energy expenditure of individual athletes. Energy

intake required by individual athletes and the recommendations of nutritional standards could

possibly be significantly different from each other. As shown in the case studies, it can be overall

inconclusive what exercise energy expenditure is possible of. Energy Expenditure proves to be

different based on gender, age, race, and many more other factors. Using energy intake standards

developed for athletes as the single basis for planning nutritional strategies carries a risk of

miscalculating the required and necessary calorie intake and of occurrence of energy imbalance

problems. In conclusion, the overall study of athlete energy expenditure has little proactive

research done for it. Although case studies are concluded, they are often inclusive in their

results. I hope in the future for more studies to be completed on Energy Expenditure to provide

athletes with conclusive results for the best way to use their energy for performance.
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Bibliography

Dyckman, J. Associations Between Collegiate Female Athletes' Energy Availability and Various

Female Athlete Triad Components/Risk Factors Using Three Different Criteria to

Calculate Exercise Energy Expenditure. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and

Dietetics, Volume 118, Issue 10, A162

Frączek, B., Grzelak, A., Klimek, A. T. (2019). Energy expenditure of athletes' endurance and

strength in the light of the Polish energy intake standards. International Journal of

Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, 32(1), 1-13.

https://doi.org/10.13075/ijomeh.1896.01300

Nose, ogura, S., Harada, M., Hiraike, O., Osuga, Y., and Fujii, T. (2018). Management of the

female athlete triad. Journal of Obsterics and Gynaecology Research, 44(6), 1007-1014.

https://doi-org.setonhill.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/jog.13614