New Model Addresses Childhood Obesity - Forbes

New Model Addresses Childhood Obesity - Forbes: Hall’s model is based on the “energy balance principle”, which states that weight fluctuations are the result of a difference between calories consumed and energy expended. It accounts for the metabolic changes which occur when body weight fluctuates and also differentiates between the energy needs of lean muscle mass and fat or adipose tissue. The model additionally accounts for sex-specific differences in growth rates and metabolism. To account for normal growth-related energy requirements between the ages of 5 and 18 years, Hall and colleagues assumed a gradual increase of about 1200 kcal/day for boys and 900 kcal/day for girls. When tested against actual population data, the authors determined that the model accurately reflected cross-sectional data from 292 healthy white children, as well as data from Hispanic and African American children.