The Basal Metabolism of European Women in South India and the Effect of Change of Climate on European and South Indian Women

Abstract

Measurements on thirty-four European women resident in the city of Madras, which has a mean annual temperature of 82.8° F. and a relative humidity of 72 per cent, showed an average metabolism 7.9, 6.3 and 12.5 per cent below the Harris-Benedict, Dreyer and Aub-DuBois standards, respectively. By the same standards this was 9.0, 9.9 and 4.7 per cent above the average metabolism of Indian women in Madras. The mouth temperature was slightly higher than reported in Western countries and the pulse and blood pressure as low or slightly lower. These three measurements do not differ significantly from those on Indians. The European vital capacity was normal and very much higher than that of Indian women. Nine European women studied in both temperate and tropical climates showed two types of response to the tropics. One group showed a marked decrease in metabolism, a fairly marked fall in pulse rate and no rise in mouth temperature. The other group showed no change in metabolism, a slight fall in pulse rate and a rise in temperature of from 0.2° F. to 0.7°. The high correlation found in this small group of subjects between change in metabolism and change in temperature is supported by a high correlation between temperature and metabolism in the series of thirty-four women measured in Madras. The average decrease in metabolism of the group of nine moving to the tropics was 5.1 per cent. Three Indian women measured in two climates showed an increase in metabolism of 4.8 per cent in cold climates. These data suggest that approximately 5 per cent of the low metabolism previously reported for Indian women may be attributed to the effect of tropical climate.