Energy intake and expenditure of free-living, lactating colombian women in an urban setting

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 56; no. 3; pp. 205 - 213
• Main Authors: DUFOUR, D. L, REINA, J. C, SPURR, G. B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing 01.03.2002; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis of Variance; Anthropometry; Arm circumference; Biological and medical sciences; Body fat; Body mass; Body size; Breastfeeding & lactation; Calorimetry; Clinical nutrition; Colombia; Cross-Sectional Studies; Developing countries; Diet Records; Energy; Energy balance; Energy expenditure; Energy intake; Energy Intake - physiology; Energy Metabolism - physiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Heart rate; Hemoglobins - analysis; Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology; Humans; Intermediate and energetic metabolism; Lactation; LDCs; Lean body mass; Medical sciences; Metabolic response; Metabolism; Metabolisms and neurohumoral controls; Neighborhoods; Nutritional survey. Food supply and nutritional requirement; Physical Exertion - physiology; Postpartum Period; Poverty; Residence Characteristics; Urban areas; Urban environments; Urban Population; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Colombia; Human; Lactation; Cross section; Developing countries; Urban area; Pregnancy; Energy balance; Lactates; Energetic cost; Female; Lactic acid; Arm; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601302

To examine the components of energy balance during lactation in a population of economically disadvantaged women in an urban developing country setting in order to better understand the metabolic response to lactation. Cross-sectional comparison of lactating (LACT) and non-pregnant non-lactating (NPNL) women. Body size and composition were assessed via anthropometry, energy intake was measured using estimated diet records and energy expenditure using indirect calorimetry and the Flex-Heart Rate method. Low-income neighborhoods of Cali, Colombia. Lactating women (n=15) studied at 2.4+/-0.8, 5.5+/-0.8 and 8.9+/-1.2 months postpartum, and NPNL women (n=48) studied in three measurement rounds at 0, 3.5+/-0.6 and 7.1+/-1.0 months. There were no significant differences between LACT and NPNL women in anthropometric dimensions, but LACT women showed decreases in waist-hip ratio, lean body mass and increases in mid-arm circumference and percentage body fat with time. Energy intake was higher in LACT women (P=0.04), but there were no significant between-group differences in energy expenditure variables. This group of women met the cost of lactation principally via increased energy intake.