Metabolism and total energy expenditure change throughout our lives, and now a new study is documenting a series of distinct, interrelated changes in unprecedented detail.. This data, from a large cohort of people spanning the period from birth to old age, sheds new light on human development and aging and can help shape targeted nutrition and health strategies throughout a person's life..

The complex machine, which is the human body, requires significant amounts of energy to maintain daily physical activity and sustain life.. However, while energy use is central to understanding many aspects of human health and physiology, including daily nutritional requirements and metabolic investments in countless activities, very little is known about the total energy expenditure in humans or how it varies over the course of a human life..

Representing an international consortium of researchers, Hermann Pontzer and colleagues compiled an extensive, diverse database of total costs as measured by DLW, covering over 6,421 people, men and women, ranging from 8 days to 95 years.. Ponzer et al. found that metabolism and total expenditures are not static throughout life, but go to critical moments. Most large-scale studies of human energy costs focus on baseline costs, which are only about half of total costs.

While DLW studies can provide estimates of total energy expenditure in free-living individuals, they are also often limited in sample size and diversity..

According to the data obtained, energy expenditure (adjusted for weight) at birth is similar to that of adults.. It increases rapidly in infancy and childhood and then decreases during adolescence.. Throughout adulthood, energy costs plateau - remain stable even during pregnancy. Finally, the second phase of decline occurs from about age 60 until death..

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