^*Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts

Correspondence: Jean-Pierre Flatt Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 364 Plantation Street, Room 813, Worcester, MA 01605. E-mail: j.p.flatt@umassmed.edu

^**The costs of publication of this article were defrayed, in part, by the payment of page charges. This article must, therefore, be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Received 16 November 2006; Accepted 6 April 2007.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the impact of differences in basal energy expenditure on adiposity.

Research Methods and Procedures: Statistical analysis was performed on a published database giving anthropometric and energy expenditure measurements for 433 women and 335 men. Published equations derived by multiple regression analysis were used to predict basal metabolic rates in women and in men as a function of age, weight, and height. The differences between the observed and predicted rates (i.e., the residuals) were computed and expressed in terms of percentage deviation from the predicted rates of basal energy expenditure (BEE). In addition, individual body fat contents were computed using equations based on National Health and Nutrition Examination Study 3 data relating to body fat content determined by bioimpedance to BMI.

Results: There is no correlation between percentage body fat content and deviations from predicted (which one would refer to as normal) BEE.

Discussion: It can be concluded that relatively high or relatively low rates of BEE do not influence body weights and adiposity in a statistically identifiable manner. This contradicts and challenges the widely held view that low resting metabolic rates promote the development of obesity.