Background: We investigated the validity of REE predictive equations before and after 12-week energy-restricted diet intervention in Spanish obese (30 kg/m(2)>BMI<40 kg/m(2)) women.
Methods: We measured REE (indirect calorimetry), body weight, height, and fat mass (FM) and fat free mass (FFM, dual X-ray absorptiometry) in 86 obese Caucasian premenopausal women aged 36.7±7.2 y, before and after (n = 78 women) the intervention. We investigated the accuracy of ten REE predictive equations using weight, height, age, FFM and FM.
Results: At baseline, the most accurate equation was the Mifflin et al. (Am J Clin Nutr 1990; 51: 241-247) when using weight (bias:-0.2%, P = 0.982), 74% of accurate predictions. This level of accuracy was not reached after the diet intervention (24% accurate prediction). After the intervention, the lowest bias was found with the Owen et al. (Am J Clin Nutr 1986; 44: 1-19) equation when using weight (bias:-1.7%, P = 0.044), 81% accurate prediction, yet it provided 53% accurate predictions at baseline.
Conclusions: There is a wide variation in the accuracy of REE predictive equations before and after weight loss in non-morbid obese women. The results acquire especial relevance in the context of the challenging weight regain phenomenon for the overweight/obese population.