Humans in the cold: Regulating energy balance
Kurt McInnis
School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorFrançois Haman
School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Éric Doucet
School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Correspondence
Éric Doucet, PhD, School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5.
Email: edoucet@uottawa.ca
Search for more papers by this authorKurt McInnis
School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorFrançois Haman
School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Éric Doucet
School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Correspondence
Éric Doucet, PhD, School of Human Kinetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5.
Email: edoucet@uottawa.ca
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
For humans to maintain a stable core temperature in cold environments, an increase in energy expenditure (EE) is required. However, little is known about how cold stimulus impacts energy balance as a whole, as energy intake (EI) has been largely overlooked. This review focuses on the current state of knowledge regarding how cold exposure (CE) impacts both EE and EI, while highlighting key gaps and shortcomings in the literature. Animal models clearly reveal that CE produces large increases in EE, while decreasing environmental temperatures results in a significant negative dose-response effect in EI (r=-.787, P<.001), meaning animals eat more as temperature decreases. In humans, multiple methods are used to administer cold stimuli, which result in consistent yet quantitatively small increases in EE. However, only two studies have measured ad libitum food intake in combination with acute CE in humans. Chronic CE (i.e., cold acclimation) studies have been shown to produce minimal changes in body weight, with an average compensation of ~126%. Although more studies are required to investigate how cold impacts EI in humans, results presented in this review warrant caution before presenting or considering CE as a potential adjunct to weight loss strategies.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
No conflict of interest was declared.
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