VI. Energy expenditure and climatic exposure of Yemenite and Kurdish Jews in Israel

Abstract

The daily energy expenditure of Yemenite and Kurdish Jews has been assessed in summer and winter. The majority of the male subjects were engaged in farming; the women were mainly housewives. A timed activity survey was carried out on all subjects. The differences between summer and winter were, in general, small and the time spent by the men in different activities averaged for the two seasons were, for the Yemenite Jews 7.69 h lying, 7.16 h sitting, 7.6 h working. The Kurdish Jews spent 8.44 h lying, 6.4 h sitting and 7.4 h working. Energy expenditure was computed from the timed activity survey and measurements of oxygen consumption in a number of tasks. The energy expenditure of the men in the summer was 3 050 kcal (12760 kj) per day for both the Yemenite and the Kurdish Jews. In the winter, the Yemenite Jews expended 3000 kcal (12560 kj) and the Kurdish Jews 3110 kcal (13020 kj) per day. The Yemenite Jewish women expended 2280 kcal (9550 kj) per day in the summer and 2400 kcal (10040 kj) per day in the winter, and the Kurdish Jewish women expended 2250 kcal (9420 kj) per day in the summer and 2 390 kcal (10 000 kj) per day in the winter. Integrated heart rates were recorded in the two seasons, during the night and during the day. The night rates were significantly lower in the summer than in the winter. The average night rates were: summer, winter, beats/min beats/min Kurdish Jews men 56.3 60.9 women 63.0 70.6 Yemenite Jews men 60.4 65.6 women 66.6 70.5 The time spent out of doors in the daylight hours was 348 min/day in the summer and 347 min/day in the winter for the Yemenite Jewish men. The Kurdish Jewish men spent 401 min/day out of doors in the summer and 342 min/day out of doors in the winter. The Yemenite Jewish women were out of doors for 205 min/day in the summer and 243 min/day in the winter. The corresponding figures for the Kurdish Jewish women were 203 and 81 min/day.