Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1989

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Health Promotion and Health Education

Major Professor

Bill C. Wallace

Committee Members

John T. Smith

Abstract

Five basic methods and two variations used for estimating individual daily energy expenditure were investigated with special attention given to comparing microcomputer estimates to those of the others. The purpose was to study the extent to which methods were correlated with respect to estimates of resting energy requirement (RER), activity calories, and total calories.

Nineteen subjects determined to be in energy balance provided activity and time logs (diaries) for seven observations over a 28-day period. The activity/time information was submitted for use with each of the methods, following the protocol described for each. Daily estimates and weekly means for the RER, activity, and total calories were calculated. For the daily estimates, coefficients of correlations using Pearson r and confidence intervals using Fisher's z transformation were determined at the 95% level of confidence. The means and standard deviations of the three variables were used to determine coefficients of variation among the estimated daily values.

Estimates of RER between paired methods were found to be highly correlated for all methods regardless of the basis upon which RER was founded. Activity calories estimates were varied among the methods with no consistent linear relations. The relation of total caloric estimates was more strongly influenced by the relation of RER estimates than by estimates of activity calories. The microcomputer estimates were significantly correlated with other methods' estimates for total calories in all instances but one. Correlation coefficients for total calories observed between the other six methods of estimation could have been zero on 18 of 45 occasions. All estimates for total calories fell within the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) ranges for college-age persons engaged in light activity or within the ranges of Fox and Mathews described for athletically active young men and women. Recommendations are made to modify the current microcomputer program and to continue investigations of microcomputer applications for estimating daily energy expenditure.

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