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The Energy Cost of Living in the Developing World

NCT05563896 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 159

Last updated 2025-04-06

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

By 2050 there will be 9 billion people on earth. Yet a major issue facing governments is that the current method by which food demands are estimated is widely acknowledged to be completely inaccurate. There is an accurate method available. It is based on measurements of isotope elimination and is called the doubly-labeled water (DLW) method. As part of an initiative sponsored by the International Atomic energy agency (IAEA), the investigators recently compiled a database of measurements using this technique. It showed that use of the DLW method has been mostly restricted to the USA and western Europe. It has been rarely applied across Africa and Asia. There is a clear need to fill this gap in our knowledge providing information that governments across the belt and road countries can use to forecast future food demands. A letter of support from the IAEA confirms the practical importance of having these data which will become reference standards for food intake estimates across the region. Having this information not only fills a very practical need, but also has a strong scientific purpose. The population of earth is not only getting bigger, but the people are getting fatter. The causes of this obesity epidemic are strongly disputed with some suggesting it is due to our increasingly sedentary lives (computers, cars, phones etc), but others suggesting it is mostly due to changing food patterns (junk food and sugar sweetened beverages). Measuring energy expenditure of people across countries that vary enormously in their levels of obesity will address whether falling expenditure due to lowered physical activity is a key cause of the epidemic.

Conditions

  • Food Requirements

Interventions

OTHER

No intervention

No intervention

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University Cheikh Anta Diop of Daka

    collaborator UNKNOWN

  • Tehran University of Medical Sciences

    collaborator OTHER

  • University of Aberdeen

    collaborator OTHER

  • Tohoku University

    collaborator OTHER

  • Moi University

    collaborator OTHER

  • Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology ,Chinese Academy of Sciences

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • John R. Speakman, Doctor · Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology ,Chinese Academy of Sciences

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
50 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2023-04-28
Primary Completion
2024-05-01
Completion
2024-05-01

Countries

  • China

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05563896 on ClinicalTrials.gov