Energy requirements in active elderly individuals living in a rural regionof Northwest Mexico.

The energy requirements in free-living elderly rural people were investigat ed by measuring physical activity level and basal energy expenditure using a physical activity questionnaire and indirect calorimetry, respectively. A pproximately 65 different occupational and leisure activities over the prev ious 12 months were considered. Energy expenditure by physical activity was estimated using PAL for specific activities reported in the literature. Al l 65 the activities were considered to adapt the questionnaire. Reproducibi lity was evaluated by administering the questionnaire on two separate occas ions within 3-4 week elapsed between them. it was found to be reliable for the study (Pearson correlation was r = 0.85; p<0.05). The physical activity level of the women and men were 1.50+/-0.29 and 1.65+/-0.66, respectively (p<0.05). The basal metabolic rate also differed between women and men (p<0 .05) with 5348+/-719 kJ/day and 6160+/-862 kJ/day,respectively. Similarly t he total energy expenditure was different (p<0.05) in women and men 8311+/- 1610 kJ/day and 10210+/-2265 kJ/day, respectively. Results indicate that th e physical activity questionnaire presented can be an alternative methodolo gy to estimate physical activity in free-living elderly people and together with indirect calorimetry measurements can be useful to estimate their ene rgy expenditure and hence energy requirements.