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  • Original Article
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Body composition, energy expenditure and physical activity

Inter- and intraindividual correlations of background abundances of 2H, 18O and 17O in human urine and implications for DLW measurements

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, pages 1091–1098 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

The method of choice for measuring total energy expenditure in free-living individuals is the doubly labeled water (DLW) method. This experiment examined the behavior of natural background isotope abundance fluctuations within and between individuals over time to assess possible methods of accounting for variations in the background isotope abundances to potentially improve the precision of the DLW measurement.

Subjects/Methods:

In this work, we measured natural background variations in 2H, 18O and 17O in water from urine samples collected from 40 human subjects who resided in the same geographical area. Each subject provided a urine sample for 30 consecutive days. Isotopic abundances in the samples were measured using Off-Axis Integrated Cavity Output Spectroscopy.

Results:

Autocorrelation analyses demonstrated that the background isotopes in a given individual were not temporally correlated over the time scales of typical DLW studies. Using samples obtained from different individuals on the same calendar day, cross-correlation analyses demonstrated that the background variations of different individuals were not correlated in time. However, the measured ratios of the three isotopes 2H, 18O and 17O were highly correlated (R2=0.89–0.96).

Conclusions:

Although neither specific timing of DLW water studies nor intraindividual comparisons were found to be avenues for reducing the impact of background isotope abundance fluctuations on DLW studies, strong inter-isotope correlations within an individual confirm that use of a dosing ratio of 8‰:1‰ (0.6 p.p.m.:1 p.p.m.) optimizes DLW precision. Theoretical implications for the possible use of 17O measurements within a DLW study require further study.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ruixin Guo for statistical expertise, Susan Fortson for laboratory assistance and Thomas Owano for helpful discussions. We are particularly grateful to Professor Bill Wong for providing us with some enriched isotopic standards. This work was supported by NIH SBIR 1R43DK093362–01.

Author Contributions

ESFB is the principal investigator and involved in the study design, data collection, sample analysis, data analysis, statistical analysis and manuscript preparation. ELM involved in the study design, sample collection, data collection and manuscript preparation. TS involved in the sample collection and data collection. SPS involved in the sample analysis and data analysis. JRS involved in the study design, modeling, data interpretation and manuscript preparation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Los Gatos Research, Mountain View, CA, USA

    E S F Berman & S P Snaith

  2. Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA

    E L Melanson

  3. Division of Geriatric Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA

    E L Melanson & T Swibas

  4. Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK,

    J R Speakman

  5. State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China,

    J R Speakman

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  1. E S F Berman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to E S F Berman.

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Competing interests

ESFB discloses that she is employed by Los Gatos Research, the manufacturer of the OA-ICOS laser absorption spectrometers. SPS discloses that he was formerly employed by Los Gatos Research.

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Berman, E., Melanson, E., Swibas, T. et al. Inter- and intraindividual correlations of background abundances of 2H, 18O and 17O in human urine and implications for DLW measurements. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 1091–1098 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2015.10

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