The Relevance of Metabolic Rate in Behavioral Medicine Research

Abstract

This article reviews research relating metabolism to areas of interest to behavioral medicine. Metabolic rate has been investigated as a possible mediator of a variety of problems related to energy balance. Metabolic rate has also been utilized to investigate excessive cardiac activity that may be associated with cardiovascular disease. Although resting metabolic rate does not appear to be different in obese compared with nonobese, diet-induced thermogenesis is diminished in obese subjects. Caloric restriction produces a decline in metabolic rate in both obese and nonobese and further reduces the diet-induced thermogenic effect in obese. Exercise may prevent the decline in metabolic rate following caloric restriction. Anorexic individuals have a lowered metabolic rate that appears to increase rapidly after refeeding. Although bulimic individuals who purge via self-induced vomiting do not have a lower metabolic rate than matched control subjects, the frequency of purging has been found to be inversely related to resting metabolic rate. Metabolic rate has also been investigated as a possible mediator of weight regulation in individuals who smoke cigarettes and has been shown to decrease with smoking cessation. Tissue overperfusion, or an increase in cardiovascular activity above metabolic need, has been shown to increase peripheral resistance and may lead to hypertension.