Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Communication
  • Published:

Precision of the doubly labeled water method in a large-scale application: evaluation of a streamlined-dosing protocol in the Observing Protein and Energy Nutrition (OPEN) study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 57, pages 1370–1377 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate whether the doubly labeled water (DLW) method is precise under conditions required for a large-scale evaluation of dietary intake instruments.

Design: Energy expenditure was measured in 484 subjects (main study). Subjects received one of five different weight DLW dose bottles prepared in advance of the study. A repeat energy expenditure measure was obtained in a subset of 24 subjects (substudy). DLW measures of energy expenditure were performed over a 2-week interval with urine collection at the beginning and end.

Setting: Free-living environment with three clinic visits in the Maryland suburban area of Washington, DC.

Subjects: A total of 484 subjects (261 men and 223 women) aged 40–69 y, 24 of whom (13 men and 11 women) participated in a substudy in which DLW was administered a second time.

Results: The coefficient of variation of the DLW energy expenditure measurement was 5.1%. This included a 2.9% analytical and a 4.2% physiologic variation. Based on observed initial isotopic enrichment, the preweighed dosages were optimal in 70% of the main study subjects, and 9% received a dose that was less than optimal. Only six subjects (1%) were excluded because the final isotopic enrichment was too low to conduct precise measurement.

Conclusions: Use of preweighed DLW dosages did not compromise the precision of the DLW method. The DLW method is a reliable measure of energy expenditure for large-scale evaluations of dietary intake instruments.

Sponsorship: The National Cancer Institute.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Permil is a one part per thousand (‰) change in the ratio of the heavy to light isotope—that is (Rsample/Rstandard−1) × 1000, where R is the molar ratio of the heavy (2H) to light (1H) isotope abundance. A 1 permil change in 18O or 2H enrichment corresponds to the addition of 2 mol of 18O-hydride or 0.16 mol 2H oxide to 106 mol of water, respectively.

References

  • Beaton G, Milner J, Corey P, McGuire V, Cousins M, Stewart E, deRamos M, Hewitt D, Grambsch P, Kassim N & Little J (1979): Sources of variance in 24-hour dietary recall data: implications for nutrition study design and interpretation. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 32, 2456–2559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanc S, Colligan A, Trabulsi J, Harris T, Everhart J, Bauer D & Schoeller DA (2002): Influence of delayed isotopic equilibration in urine on the accuracy of the 2H218O method in the elderly. J. Appl. Physiol. 92, 1036–1044.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brun T, Bleiberg F & Goihman S (1981): Energy expenditure of male farmers in dry and rainy seasons in Upper-Volta. Br. J. Nutr. 45, 67–75.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Calazel C, Young V, Evans W & Roberts S (1993): Effect of fasting and feeding on carbon dioxide production using doubly labeled water. J. Appl. Physiol. 74, 1824–1829.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cole T & Coward W (1992): Precision and accuracy of doubly labeled water energy expenditure by multipoint and two-point methods. Am. J. Physiol. 263, E965–E973.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goran M, Beer W, Wolfe R, Poehlman E & Young V (1993): Variation in total energy expenditure in young healthy free-living men. Metabolism 42, 487–496.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goran M, Nagy T, Gower B, Mazariegos M, Solomons N, Hood V & Johnson R (1998): Influence of sex, seasonality, ethnicity, and geographic location on the components of total energy expenditure in young children: implications for energy requirements. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 68, 675–682.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Horvitz M & Schoeller DA (2001): Natural abundance deuterium and 18-oxygen effects on the precision of the doubly labeled water method. Am. J. Physiol. 280, E965–E972.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt W, Leonard A, Garry P & Goodwin J (1983): Components of variance in dietary data for an elderly population. Nutr. Res. 3, 433–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luke A & Schoeller DA (1997): Rapid 18O analysis of CO2 samples by continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry. J Mass Spectrom. 32, 1332–1336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Racette S, Schoeller DA, Luke A, Shay K, Hnilicka J & Kushner R (1994): Relative dilution spaces of 2H- and 18O-labeled water in humans. Am. J. Physiol. 267, E585–E590.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ritz P, Johnson P & Coward W (1994): Measurements of 2H and 18O in body water: analytical considerations and physiological implications. Br. J. Nutr. 72, 3–12.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts S, Dietz W, Sharp T, Dallal G & Hill J (1995): Mulitple laboratory comparison of the doubly labeled water technique. Obes. Res. 3, 3–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoeller DA (1983): Energy expenditure from doubly labeled water: some fundamental considerations in humans. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 38, 999–1005.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schoeller DA (1988): Measurement of energy expenditure in free-living human beings by using doubly labeled water. J. Nutr. 118, 1278–1289.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schoeller DA (1996): Hydrometry. In Human Body Composition. eds Roche, AF, Heymsfield SB & Lohman TG, pp 25–43. Champaign: Human Kinetics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoeller DA, Colligan AS, Shriver T, Hargish H & Bartok-Olson C (2000): Use of an automated reduction system for hydrogen isotope analysis of physiologic fluids applied to doubly labeled water. J. Mass Spectrom. 35, 1128–1132.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schoeller DA & Hnilicka J (1996): Reliability of the doubly labeled water method for the measurement of total daily energy expenditure in free-living subjects. J. Nutr. 126, 348S–354S.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schoeller DA, Leitch C & Brown C (1986): Doubly labeled water method: in vivo oxygen and hydrogen isotope fractionation. Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 251, R1137–R1143.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schoeller DA, Taylor P & Shay K (1995): Analytical requirements for the doubly labeled water method. Obes. Res. 3, 15–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subar AF, Kipnis V, Troiano RP, Midthune D, Schoeller DA, Bingham S, Sharbaugh C, Trabulsi J, Runswick S, Ballard-Barbash R, Sunshine J & Schatzkin A 2003, in press: Using intake biomarkers to evaluate the extent of dietary misreporting in a large sample of adults: The Observing Protein and Energy Nutrition (OPEN) study.

  • Weir J (1949): New methods for calculating metabolic rate with special reference to protein metabolism. J. Physiol. 109, 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. D A Schoeller: Guarantor: DA Schoeller.

  2. J Trabulsi, R P Troiano, A F Subar, C Sharbaugh, V Kipnis, A Schatzkin and D A Schoeller: Contributors: RPT, AFS, CS, VK, AS, and DAS designed the study. JT and CS collected the data. JT and DAS conducted data analysis. JT, RPT, AFS, and DAS wrote the manuscript. CS, VK, and AS critically revised the manuscript for intellectual content.

Authors and Affiliations

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

    J Trabulsi & D A Schoeller

  2. Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Applied Research Program, Bethesda, MD, USA

    R P Troiano & A F Subar

  3. Westat, Rockville, MD, USA

    C Sharbaugh

  4. Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, Biometry Research Group, Bethesda, MD, USA

    V Kipnis

  5. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Nutritional Epidemiology Branch, Bethesda, MD, USA

    A Schatzkin

Authors
  1. J Trabulsi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R P Troiano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A F Subar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. C Sharbaugh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. V Kipnis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. A Schatzkin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. D A Schoeller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D A Schoeller.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Trabulsi, J., Troiano, R., Subar, A. et al. Precision of the doubly labeled water method in a large-scale application: evaluation of a streamlined-dosing protocol in the Observing Protein and Energy Nutrition (OPEN) study. Eur J Clin Nutr 57, 1370–1377 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601698

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601698

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links