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Cited by 163Physiological and biochemical adaptationsCardiovascular and exercise physiologyThermoregulation and physiological responses

Extreme events reveal an alimentary limit on sustained maximal human energy expenditure

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Thurber, Caitlin, Dugas, Lara R., Ocobock, Cara, Carlson, Bryce, Speakman, John R., Pontzer, Herman·2019·Science Advances
DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aaw0341PMC PMC6551185
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Abstract

Maximum sustained energy expenditure in humans is limited by energy intake and strongly tied to event duration.

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Crossref · 10.1126/sciadv.aaw0341

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  • Endurance sports (often more than 30 hours of training per week) can sometimes result in extreme exercise energy expenditure that exceeds the capacity of the human alimentary tract for sustained energy absorption.

    “This is especially the case in endurance sports (often >30 hours of training/week), 37 which can sometimes result in extreme EEE that exceeds the capacity of the human alimentary tract for sustained energy absorption.”

    From 2023 international olympic committee's (IOC) consensus statement on relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs) (2023) · cites this paper as [38]

    The Discussion reports that endurance-event energy expenditure above roughly 2.5× basal metabolic rate cannot be met by additional intake and instead draws on energy stores, consistent with an alimentary limit that cannot be exceeded indefinitely. The paper does not establish that endurance sports often involve more than 30 hours of training per week. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Authors
Thurber, C., Dugas, L. R., Ocobock, C., Carlson, B., Speakman, J. R., & Pontzer, H.
Affiliations
  • Hunter College (US)
  • Loyola University Chicago (US)
  • University at Albany, State University of New York (US)
  • Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
  • University of Aberdeen (GB)
  • Duke University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Speakman, John R.
  • Pontzer, Herman
ORCID
Venue
Science Advances
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Published
2019-06
Volume
5
Issue
6
Pages
eaaw0341-eaaw0341
ISSN
2375-2548 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.aaw0341
PMC
PMC6551185
OpenAlex
W2948754822
Cited by
163
References
9
Citations by year
2026: 29 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 9
FWCI
10.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • Science Advances (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • CUNY Academic Works (City University of New York) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Aberdeen University Research Archive (Aberdeen University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Purdue University
  • Hunter College
  • Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine
  • Grand Valley State University
  • Royal Society
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB13030100)
  • 1000 Talents Organization
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Physiological and biochemical adaptations
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Thermoregulation and physiological responses
Keywords
basal metabolic rate, total energy expenditure, endurance events, event duration, energy stores, overfeeding, human endurance, thermoregulation, reproduction

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