BASAL METABOLIC-RATE IN HUMAN-SUBJECTS MIGRATING BETWEEN TROPICAL ANDTEMPERATE REGIONS - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY AND REVIEW OF PREVIOUS WORK

A review of the studies of basal metabolic rate (BMR) in human subject s migrating between tropical and temperate countries is presented. Suc h an analysis showed conflicting results of BMR in tropical migrants w hen expressed as BMR/kg/d. Much of this confusion may be attributable to experimental design and poor selection of subjects. A longitudinal study of BMR in 18-30-year-old males migrating for the first time from a tropical to a temperate country (the UK) was undertaken to address disparities seen in the earlier reviewed work. BMR was measured in tro pical migrants and their temperate resident peers serially from 2 to 3 weeks post-migration to up to 6 months later, making advances on prev ious studies which did not measure BMR so promptly post-migration, or conduct serial measurements. The tropical migrants recruited in this i nvestigation were of high socioeconomic status and well nourished. BMR /kg/d was similar in tropical migrants and temperate residents, there being no time trend in either group through the course of the study. T he BMR of both groups was similar to that of populations born and resi dent in temperate regions, in contrast to the lower BMRs of born and r esident tropical peoples reported in the literature. It is suggested t hat these lower BMRs are the result of a different relationship of BMR with body weight in individuals who are undernourished and/or of low socio-economic status, the corollary of which is a lower body weight, stature and body mass index.