Posture economy: the importance of metabolic state on metabolic phenotype assessment and the energy cost of sitting and standing. A whole body calorimetry trial

Background Metabolic state (fed vs fasted) can result in marked differences in exercise metabolism, fat, and carbohydrate oxidation. In addition, a large inter-individual range in metabolic response to sitting and standing when fasted has been observed. Here, we examined the effect of metabolic state on the energy cost of posture allocation. Methods Thirty male participants were recruited and followed a 1 h sit-stand protocol in a fasted and fed state inside a whole body calorimeter to measure energy expenditure (EE) and respiratory quotient (RQ). Body composition and resting metabolic rate were measured before the start. Fasted EE response was used to phenotype participants as energy savers (≤5% ΔEE from sitting to standing) or energy spenders (>5% ΔEE). Results In a fasted state, ΔEE from sitting to standing in energy spenders was 10.2 ± 2.7% compared to 2.6 ± 1.9% in energy savers ( p < 0.001). Postprandial, there was no difference in ΔEE between energy spenders and energy savers (10.8 ± 5.1% vs 9.4 ± 5.7%). In a fasted state, significant correlations were observed between body fat (%) and ΔEE (%) ( R 2 = 0.55, p < 0.001), body fat (%) and ΔRQ ( R 2 = 0.28, p < 0.001) and ΔEE (%) and ΔRQ ( R 2 = 0.43, p < 0.001); these correlations were not present after the meal. Conclusions The current study showed for the first time, that the observed difference between energy spenders and energy savers in a fasted state, disappeared after the consumption of a meal. Therefore, metabolic state may be important to consider when assessing metabolic phenotypes. Differences in body composition were observed between the energy spender and energy saver phenotype. The current findings may have implications on health and weight management recommendations on posture to increase non-exercise activity thermogenesis. This trial was retrospectively registered on 19 December 2017 as NCT03378115 on Clinicaltrials.gov .