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Department of Nutrition Sciences School of Health Professions

Research in Human Metabolism — Whole-Room Indirect Calorimetry Suite


The purpose of the whole-room indirect calorimetry suite is to provide measurements of human energy expenditure and substrate utilization, both long-term (24-hour) and short-term (1–6-hour), for research studies. The rooms are ideal for studying changes in energy expenditure, fat oxidation, and carbohydrate oxidation in response to exercise challenges, food intake, diet or exercise interventions, and drug therapy. The facility is directed by Dr. Kathryn Whyte.

Measures

Whole-room indirect calorimetry can be used to measure:

  • Total energy expenditure over 24 hours
  • Diet-induced thermogenesis
  • Exercise efficiency
  • Substrate oxidation
  • Resting energy expenditure
  • Sleeping energy expenditure

Capabilities

The whole-room indirect calorimetry suite offers:

  • Three room sizes:
    • Large 27 m3 (adult, 24-hour studies)
    • Small 16 m3 (pediatric, 24-hour studies; adult, short-term studies)
    • Flex 6 m3 (acute, 1-4-hour studies; e.g., exercise test, resting energy expenditure, meal test)
  • Ports for blood sampling
  • All are push-pull configurations

Applications

Whole-room indirect calorimetry can be used to determine the effects of:

  • Weight loss on whole-body metabolism and its components
  • Weight loss medication on whole-body metabolism and its components
  • Different diets on whole-body metabolism and its components; please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Exercise training (or acute exercise bouts) on whole-body metabolism and its components
  • Cold exposure on whole-body metabolism and its components
  • Calorimeter data can be integrated with other measures such as wearables or omics data
  • The data is best interpreted with measures of body composition; please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Support

The whole-room indirect calorimetry suite is supported by the NIDDK through the Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) and the Diabetes Research Center (DRC) and through the UAB Institutional Research Core Program (Metabolism Core).

Services and Protocols

The whole-room indirect calorimetry suite offers study design consultation and study staff training for operations/data downloading.

  • Linen service is provided for all chambers.
  • Data are held on secure servers to be downloaded by researchers.
  • Contact must be maintained with participants (visual or intercom) while a participant is in the chamber.
  • Users are responsible for cleaning pre- and post-use.

Scheduling

Users may staff their own protocols; however, all operators must be trained. Prior to scheduling, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

  • The flex chamber can be scheduled in 1-hour increments.
  • The 24-hour chamber can be scheduled daily.

Scheduling use of the calorimeters is handled by a Microsoft Bookings calendar. Please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..