Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T09:16:13.477Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of extreme environments on food intake in human subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2007

Margriet S. Westerterp-Plantenga
Margriet S. Westerterp-Plantenga*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
*
Corresponding Author: fax +31 43 3670976, email M.Westerterp@HB.Unimaas.nl
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Effects of extreme environments on food intake in human subjects are analysed as behavioural and physiological adaptations to annual and circadian rhythms, temperature and altitude. Effects of the environment on food intake through food availability have direct consequences on energy balance and body weight. Different geographical regions show variations in the composition of dietary foods, i.e. the relative proportions of carbohydrate, protein and fat. In developing countries the annual cycle appears to affect body weight through dependence on food availability. In West-European countries this effect appears to depend on physical activity. Energy and macronutrient intakes appear to follow a circadian pattern, with breakfast being relatively high in carbohydrate and dinner being relatively high in fat. In cold conditions, maintaining an adequate food intake is important in sustaining normal physiological responses to cold. Evidence for a possible cold-induced increase in appetite is poor. A condition influencing level of intake is the palatability of the food. High altitude, i.e. hypobaric hypoxia, appears to reduce appetite, energy intake and body mass, irrespective of acute mountain sickness (AMS). Meal size is reduced and meal frequency increased. Under circumstances of AMS, dissociation between appetite and hunger occurs. Thus, spontaneous adaptation to extreme environments requiring increased energy intake occurs first by adaptation of body weight to a new energy balance. In general, prevention of a negative energy balance occurs by learning with respect to food intake. After return to normal, adjustment of energy intake to the original energy balance occurs with restoration of body weight.

Keywords

Energy balanceHypobaric hypoxiaMacronutrientsSeasonal effects
Type
Symposium on ‘Social and environmental influences on diet choice’
Information
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , November 1999 , pp. 791 - 798
Copyright
The Nutrition Society

References

Bakker, K, Mook, JH & van Rhijn, JG (1995) Oecologie (Ecology), 2nd ed.Houten: Bohn, Stafleu, van Loghum.Google Scholar
Bellisle, F, Blundell, JE, Dye, L, Fantino, M, Fern, E, Fletcher, RJ, Lambert, J, Roberfroid, M, Specter, S, Westenhofer, J & Westerterp-Plantenga, MS (1998) Functional food science and behaviour and psychological functions. British Journal of Nutrition 80, S173–S193.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyer, SJ & Blume, FD (1984) Weight loss and changes in body composition at high altitude. Journal of Applied Physiology 57, 1580–1585.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Butterfield, GE, Gates, J, Sharon, S, Brooks, GA, Sutton, JR & Reeves, JT (1992) Increased energy intake minimizes weight loss in men at high altitude. Journal of Applied Physiology 72, 1741–1748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dinmore, AJ, Edwards, JSA, Menzies, IS & Travis, SPL (1994) Intestinal carbohydrate absorption and permeability at high altitude (5730 m). Journal of Applied Physiology 76, 1903–1907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, JSA & Roberts, DE (1991) The influence of a calorie supplement on the consumption of the meal ready-to-eat in a cold environment. Military Medicine 156, 466–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guilland, JC & Klepping, J (1985) Nutritional alterations at high altitude in man. European Journal of Applied Physiology 54, 517–523.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kayser, B (1991) Acute mountain sickness in western tourists around the Thorong pass (5400 m) in Nepal. Journal of Wilderness Medicine 2, 110–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krebs, JR & Davies, NB (1978) Behavioural Ecology, An Evolutionary Approach, 1st ed. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Kuhnlein, HV, Soueida, R & Receveur, O (1996) Dietary nutrient profiles of Canadian Baffin Island Inuit differ by food source, season, and age. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 96, 155–162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lack, D (1954) The Natural Regulation of Animal Numbers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Louis-Sylvestre, J (1987) Adaptation of food ingestion to energy expenditure. Reproduction Nutrition Développement 27, 171–188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marriot, BM & Carlson, SJ (1996) Nutritional Needs in Cold and in High-altitude Environments.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Muza, SR, Young, AJ, Sawka, MN, Bogart, JE & Pandolf, KB (1988) Respiratory and cardiovascular responses to cold stress following repeated cold water immersion. Undersea Biomedical Research 15, 165–178.Google ScholarPubMed
Pasman, WJ, Rössner, S, Westerterp-Plantenga, MS & Saris, WHM (1999) Body weight changes after treatment of obesity or pregnancy. In Regulation of Food Intake and Energy Expenditure, pp. 269–284 [Westerterp-Plantenga, MS, Steffens, AB and Tremblay, A, editors]. Milan, Italy: EDRA.Google Scholar
Prentice, AM, Whitehead, RG, Roberts, RB & Paul, AA (1981) Long-term energy balance in childbearing Gambian women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 34, 2790–2799.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rode, A & Shephard, RJ (1992) Fitness and Health of an Inuit Community: 20 Years of Cultural Changes. Circumpolar and Scientific Affairs. Ottawa, Ont.: Ministry of Indian and Northern Affairs.Google Scholar
Rose, MS, Houston, CS, Fulco, CS, Coates, G, Sutton, JR & Cymerman, A (1988) Operation Everest II: nutrition and body composition. Journal of Applied Physiology 65, 2545–2551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stunkard, AJ & Messick, S (1985) The Three Factor Eating Questionnaire to measure dietary restraint, disinhibition and hunger. Psychosomatic Research 29, 71–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
The, Lake Louise Consensus (1992) The Lake Louise Consensus on the definition and quantification of altitude illness. In Hypoxia and Mountain Medicine, pp. 327–330 [Sutton, JR, Coates, G and Houston, CS, editors]. Burlington, VT: Queen City Printers Inc.Google Scholar
Toner, MM & McArdle, WD (1988) Physiological adjustments of man to the cold. In Human Performance Physiology and Environmental Medicine at Terrestrial Extremes, pp. 361–399 [Pandolf, KB, Sawka, MN and Gonzalez, RR, editors]. Indianapolis, IN: Benchmark Press.Google Scholar
Tschopp, M, Strasburger, CJ, Hartman, G, Biollaz, J & Bartsch, P (1998) Raised leptin levels at high altitude associated with loss of appetite. Lancet 352, 1119–1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Otterloo, AH (1990) Eten en eetlust in Nederland (1840–1990): 'Een Historisch-Sociologische Studie (Consumption and Appetite in The Netherlands (1840–1990) A Historical-Sociological Study).Amsterdam: Bakker.Google Scholar
van Rhijn, JG & Westerterp-Plantenga, MS (1989) Ethologie (Ethology). Groningen: Wolters-Noordhof and Heerlen: Open Universiteit.Google Scholar
van Rhijn, JG & Westerterp-Plantenga, MS (1990) Mensen in hun Oecosystemen (Humans in their Ecosystems). Groningen: Wolters-Noordhof and Heerlen: Open Universiteit.Google Scholar
van Staveren, WA, Deurenberg, P, Burema, J, de Groot, LCPGM & Hautvast, JGAJ (1986) Seasonal variation in food intake, pattern of physical activity and change in body weight in a group of young adult Dutch women consuming self-selected diets. International Journal of Obesity 10, 133–145.Google Scholar
Westerterp, K, Kayser, B, Brouns, F, Herry, JP & Saris, WHM (1992) Energy expenditure climbing Mt. Everest. Journal of Applied Physiology 73, 1815–1819.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westerterp, KR (1994) Body weight regulation. In Food Intake and Energy Expenditure, pp. 321–338 [Westerterp-Plantenga, MS, Fredrix, EWHM, Steffens, AB and Kissileff, HR, editors]. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Westerterp, KR, Kayser, B, Wouters, L, Le, Trong J-L & Richalet, J-P (1994) Energy balance at high altitude of 6542 m. Journal of Applied Physiology 77, 862–866.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westerterp, KR, Robach, P, Wouters, L & Richalet, J-P (1996) Water balance and acute mountain sickness before and after arrival at high altitude of 4350 m. Jounal of Applied Physiology 80, 1968–1972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westerterp-Plantenga, MS (1994) Geremd eetgedrag en gewichtsproblemen (Restrained eating behaviour and body weight problems). In Balanceren tusen Honger en Verzadiging (Balancing between Hunger and Satiety), 2nd ed., pp. 31–44 [Stasse-Wolthuis, M and van Dusseldorp, M, editors]. Houten and Zaventem: Bohn, Stafleu, van Loghum.Google Scholar
Westerterp-Plantenga, MS, Pasman, WJ, Yedema, MJW & Wijckmans-Duijsens, NEG (1996a) Energy intake adaptation of food intake to extreme energy densities of food by obese and non-obese women. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 401–407.Google ScholarPubMed
Westerterp-Plantenga, MS, Rolland, V, Wilson, SAJ & Westerterp, KR (1999a) Satiety related to 24 h diet-induced thermogenesis during high protein/carbohydrate vs high fat diets measured in a respiration chamber. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 58, 1–8.Google Scholar
Westerterp-Plantenga, MS, Verwegen, CRT, Ijedema, MJW, Wijckmans, NEG & Saris, WHM (1997) Acute effects of exercise or sauna on appetite in obese and nonobese men. Physiology and Behavior 62, 1345–1354.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westerterp-Plantenga, MS, Westerterp, KR, Rubbens, M, Verwegen, CRT , CRT, Richelet, J-P & Gardette, B (1999b) Appetite at high altitude (Operation Everest III Comex- '97): a simulated ascent of Mount Everest. Journal of Applied Physiology 87, 391–399.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westerterp-Plantenga, MS, Wijckmans-Duysens, NA & Ten, Hoor F (1994) Food intake in the daily environment after energy-reduced lunch, related to habitual meal frequency. Appetite 22, 173–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Westerterp-Plantenga, MS, Yedema, MJW & Wijckmans-Duijsens, NEG (1996b) The role of macronutrient selection in determining patterns of food intake in obese and non-obese women. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 580–591.Google ScholarPubMed
Young, AJ (1991) Effects of aging on human cold tolerance. Experimental Aging Research 17, 205–213.Google ScholarPubMed