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Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

sciencemag.org

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Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#71

Post by baq »

andy81 wrote: post #66
fy20 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My family recently had norovirus ("winter" vomitting bug), which for healthy adults is pretty much nothing other than being stuck on the toilet for a day (as I was). My 2 yo however was in hospital for nearly a week on an IV because of this. As soon as my wife realised it wasn't just simple vomitting she called a doctor and they told us to go to hospital, so we were there within 3 hours of the first episode. My wife…

Must have been bad- the normal recommendation for norovirus is to avoid hospital because it's so infectious. e.g. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/norovirus/ That's what isolation wards are for, I suppose.

my 2yo was dehydrated and on IV because of that, too. not uncommon for the smallest kids.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#72

Post by 123pie123 »

> Children’s metabolic rates stay high until age 5, but the rate slowly begins to glide down until it plateaus around age 20

It reminds me of the quote from Rimmer in Red Dwarf - which was also used in a popular student uk song "Surfin’ USM" by the band "Carter USM" - https://youtu.be/_BGlAWeNFOE?t=11

Rimmer/ Red Dwarf: "When you're younger, you can eat what you like, drink what you like, and still climb in to your 26-inch-waist trousers and zip them closed. Then you reach that age- 24, 25- your muscles give up, they wave a little white flag, and without any warning at all, you're suddenly a fat bastard"

This song stuck with me because it happend to me around 22-23, I gained crap loads of weight (around 3 stone/ 42 pounds/ 19kg)

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#73

Post by eloeffler »

123pie123 wrote: post #72

> Children’s metabolic rates stay high until age 5, but the rate slowly begins to glide down until it plateaus around age 20 It reminds me of the quote from Rimmer in Red Dwarf - which was also used in a popular student uk song "Surfin’ USM" by the band "Carter USM" - https://youtu.be/_BGlAWeNFOE?t=11 Rimmer/ Red Dwarf: "When you're younger, you can eat what you like, drink what you like, and still climb in to your 2…

So nice to see a fellow smeghead XD

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#74

Post by nmstoker »

123pie123 wrote: post #72

> Children’s metabolic rates stay high until age 5, but the rate slowly begins to glide down until it plateaus around age 20 It reminds me of the quote from Rimmer in Red Dwarf - which was also used in a popular student uk song "Surfin’ USM" by the band "Carter USM" - https://youtu.be/_BGlAWeNFOE?t=11 Rimmer/ Red Dwarf: "When you're younger, you can eat what you like, drink what you like, and still climb in to your 2…

Great quote, but I think the focus of the high metabolism in the research is mainly around the 9-15 months old period and so a sudden and dramatic weight chance in the twenties might be related to some other shift.

This part of the article shows the effect over time, which is much less as time goes on:

"Children’s metabolic rates stay high until age 5, but the rate slowly begins to glide down until it plateaus around age 20. Interestingly, adult rates are stable until age 60, when they begin to decline."

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#75

Post by blub »

pgayed wrote: post #31
carrolldunham wrote: post #9

Seems pretty dumb to talk about them having fast metabolisms and brains all this other forest-for-the-trees. They are going to double their body mass over a year. See how much energy you need if you try that

This is approximately correct and should not be downvoted because it was written by an asshole‡. The disproportionate energy expenditure in children is almost certainly explained by cell division and growth . They are literally fashioning body mass from consumed food. ------- ‡ We would do well not to ignore assholes if they are stating something of consequence.

We should also not call someone that wrote a message in a certain way an asshole. You very likely don’t know that person and whether they’re an asshole.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#76

Post by bojan »

watwut wrote: post #67
hansvm wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without more details if be inclined to blame "almost identical" as the culprit (not an expert): Making all your meals 5% bigger would cause a weight gain of nearly 10lbs/yr, and the kind of switch in diet that can happen naturally with age (especially including eating out more with friends) can make it hard to spot incremental changes. Moreover, a lot of exercise doesn't actually do much for weight loss (it's still i…

> Without more details if be inclined to blame "almost identical" as the culprit (not an expert): Why? I mean, why do people find the idea of older people needing different diet due to body changes related to age so unbelievable? There are many changes related to age - how quickly injuries heal, how quickly you recover from something physical or tiring, how much or well you sleep. Your heartrate is slowly changing wi…

> Experience of "I stopped exercising and keep eating the same, I gained a lot of weight" is not rare.

It's not rare because calories add up immensely quickly. Say that you were burning 200 kcal per day exercising - and that is a low estimate. If you keep eating the same, you end up keeping 6000 kcal per month more - that translates to 1.7 lbs of body weight - per month. So, 20 lbs in the first year!

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#78

Post by vmception »

tw04 wrote: post #11
Supersam654 wrote: post #8

Personally, I was more surprised by the various groups of people who _don't_ have higher metabolic rates: > Children’s metabolic rates stay high until age 5, but the rate slowly begins to glide down until it plateaus around age 20. Interestingly, adult rates are stable until age 60, when they begin to decline. After age 90, humans use about 26% less energy daily, Pontzer says. > The study also found that pregnant wom…

This seems almost unbelievable to me. Almost everyone I know, with a handful of exceptions I can think of, had a dramatic change in what I can only say was metabolism at 30 declining steeply to 40. I can tell you personally my ability to lose weight when exercising daily has decreased significantly since 30. If it’s not metabolism, then what? Diet and exercise are almost identical.

That’s because nobody knows anything about how our bodies burn energy, just like the article says, and the use of the term metabolism is complete pseudoscience to convey a misunderstood abstract concept.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#79

Post by hk2001 »

crummy wrote: post #36
pgayed wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is approximately correct and should not be downvoted because it was written by an asshole‡. The disproportionate energy expenditure in children is almost certainly explained by cell division and growth . They are literally fashioning body mass from consumed food. ------- ‡ We would do well not to ignore assholes if they are stating something of consequence.

But newborns grow faster than infants and the increased energy expenditure was not seen in them.

Might have something to do with the fact that newborns barely move. Lots of kids will get increasingly chunky right up until the moment they start crawling/walking, when they start slimming down. I can’t imagine there’d be increased energy expenditure when you literally can’t roll yourself over, let alone move across a room.

Re: Little kids burn so much energy, they’re like a different species, study finds

#80

Post by baxtr »

tw04 wrote: post #11
Supersam654 wrote: post #8

Personally, I was more surprised by the various groups of people who _don't_ have higher metabolic rates: > Children’s metabolic rates stay high until age 5, but the rate slowly begins to glide down until it plateaus around age 20. Interestingly, adult rates are stable until age 60, when they begin to decline. After age 90, humans use about 26% less energy daily, Pontzer says. > The study also found that pregnant wom…

This seems almost unbelievable to me. Almost everyone I know, with a handful of exceptions I can think of, had a dramatic change in what I can only say was metabolism at 30 declining steeply to 40. I can tell you personally my ability to lose weight when exercising daily has decreased significantly since 30. If it’s not metabolism, then what? Diet and exercise are almost identical.

I don't think diet and exercise levels "are almost identical".

I have realized that the only physical "exercise" that gets easier by the day is eating.

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