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  • Original Article
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European ancestry and resting metabolic rate in older African Americans

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 65, pages 663–667 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Resting metabolic rate (RMR) contributes 60–80% of total energy expenditure and is consistently lower in populations of African descent compared with populations of European populations. Determination of European ancestry (EA) through single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis would provide an initial step for identifying genetic associations that contribute to low RMR. We sought to evaluate the association between RMR and EA in African Americans.

Subjects/Methods:

RMR was measured by indirect calorimetry in 141 African American men and women (aged 74.7±3.0 years) enrolled in a substudy of the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. Ancestry informative markers were used to estimate individual percent EA. Multivariate regression was used to assess the association between RMR and EA after adjustments for soft tissue fat-free mass (STFFM), fat mass, age, study site, physical activity level and sex.

Results:

Mean EA was 23.8±16% (range: 0.1–70.7%) and there were no differences by sex. Following adjustments, each percent EA was associated with a 1.6 kcal/day (95% Confidence interval: 0.42, 2.7 kcal/day) higher RMR (P=0.008). This equates to a 160 kcal/day lower RMR in a population of completely African ancestry, with one of completely European ancestry. Additional adjustment for trunk STFFM that partially accounts for high-metabolic rate organs did not affect this association.

Conclusions:

EA in African Americans is strongly associated with higher RMR. The data suggest that population differences in RMR may be due to genetic variants.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by The NIA Claude D Pepper Center P30AG028740 and a grant from the Institute on Aging at the University of Florida. The Health, Aging and Body Composition Study was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute on Aging contracts N01-AG-6-2106, N01-AG-6-2101 and N01-AG-6-2103 with additional support from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program designed the Health ABC study, supervised its conduct and participated in data collection. The coauthors, The Health, Aging, and Body Composition publications committee and representatives from The National Institute on Aging reviewed and approved the manuscript.

Disclaimer

This article was prepared while Dr R Li was employed at the University of Tennessee. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the views of the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aging and Geriatric Research, University of Florida, Institute on Aging, Gainesville,, FL, USA

    T M Manini

  2. National Institute on Aging, Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography and Biometry, Bethesda, MD, USA

    K V Patel & T B Harris

  3. Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

    D A Schoeller

  4. San Francisco Coordinating Center, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA

    D C Mackey

  5. Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    A B Newman & J M Zmuda

  6. Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    D C Bauer

  7. Office of Population Genomics, National Human Genome Research Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

    R Li

  8. Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    E Ziv

  9. National Institute on Aging, Laboratory of Neurogenetics, Bethesda, MD, USA

    M Nalls

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Manini, T., Patel, K., Bauer, D. et al. European ancestry and resting metabolic rate in older African Americans. Eur J Clin Nutr 65, 663–667 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.22

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