Presenter: HPM
Dabare
Affiliations: General Sir
Joghn Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation (In-Person)
🌍 Advancing
Energy Expenditure Research Through Doubly-Labelled Water in Children and
Adolescents
Understanding how much energy the
human body expends under real-life conditions is fundamental to studying
metabolism, physical activity, and overall energy balance. Accurate measurement
of total energy expenditure (TEE) allows researchers to interpret growth,
nutritional status, and long-term health outcomes more precisely.
Among available techniques, the doubly-labelled water (DLW) method
has emerged as the global gold standard for assessing free-living energy
expenditure. Its application has significantly strengthened the scientific
foundation of pediatric metabolic and physical activity research.
🔬 The Gold Standard for Free-Living Energy
Measurement
The DLW technique provides highly
accurate estimates of total energy expenditure without restricting participants
to laboratory settings. This makes it especially valuable in children and
adolescents, where natural movement patterns and daily activity behaviors are
essential to capture authentically.
Beyond measuring TEE, DLW has
played a critical role in:
·
Validating
self-reported dietary intake
·
Identifying
systematic errors in physical activity questionnaires
·
Recalibrating
global dietary surveillance tools
By revealing discrepancies between
reported and actual energy expenditure, DLW has reshaped how researchers
interpret behavioral data.
📊 Redefining Reference Standards in Youth
Research
Recent international
investigations have used DLW data to develop universal predictive equations
capable of detecting under- or over-reporting of energy intake. These efforts
have helped refine dietary reference standards used in public health
monitoring.
Importantly, global findings
demonstrate:
·
Developmental
variability in energy expenditure during puberty
·
Significant
sex-specific differences in TEE
·
The
necessity for age- and sex-sensitive calibration models
Such evidence highlights that
energy metabolism in growing individuals cannot be interpreted using
generalized adult-based assumptions.
🌏 Expanding Methodological Advances Across
Countries
The integration of DLW into
international research networks has facilitated the validation of field-based
assessment tools in diverse populations.
In Sri Lanka, our research applied
the DLW method among 11–13-year-old children to evaluate both:
·
📋 Subjective tools (recall questionnaires and activity logs)
·
📱 Objective tools (accelerometers)
Findings revealed that commonly
used accelerometer equations developed in Western populations systematically
misestimated activity energy expenditure in Sri Lankan children. This
discrepancy emphasized the importance of cultural and physiological specificity
in prediction models.
Through population-specific
calibration, a new predictive equation was derived, explaining more than 70% of
the variance when compared with DLW. These results confirmed that aligning
accelerometer outputs with local body composition and movement patterns
substantially enhances validity.
🔄 Integrating Multidimensional Approaches
DLW becomes even more powerful
when combined with:
·
Accelerometry
·
Behavioral
assessments
·
Physical
fitness measures
·
Growth
and developmental indicators
This multidimensional integration
allows researchers to examine metabolism and physical activity within broader
biological and environmental contexts.
Precision in measurement is not
merely a technical concern — it forms the foundation for credible public health
recommendations.
🧠
Implications for Global Health Policy
As DLW-validated datasets expand
across more than 30 countries, they are reshaping global energy expenditure
models. These datasets reveal meaningful cross-cultural differences in energy
balance that must be considered when developing international physical activity
and nutrition guidelines.
High-quality metabolic evidence
strengthens efforts to:
·
Design
age-appropriate physical activity recommendations
·
Improve
childhood nutrition strategies
·
Inform
chronic disease prevention policies
·
Promote
evidence-based global health standards
🎯 Conclusion: Precision as a Public Health
Priority
The growing global application of
doubly-labelled water underscores one essential principle: accurate measurement
is the cornerstone of meaningful intervention.
By integrating DLW with behavioral
and population-specific tools, researchers can move beyond estimation toward
evidence-driven models that reflect real-world metabolic diversity.
As research networks continue to
expand, the integration of high-fidelity metabolic data into public health
frameworks may significantly advance global strategies for childhood physical
activity, nutrition, and chronic disease prevention.
👩⚕️ About the Speaker
Dr. Prasangi Dabare is an academic and senior lecturer in
physiotherapy, currently serving as the Head of the Department of Physiotherapy
at the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence
University, Sri Lanka. With a profound background in both clinical practice and
academic research, Dr. Dabare has made significant contributions to the field
of physiotherapy, particularly in pediatric and geriatric care, physical
activity among children and adolescents, and body composition analysis methods.
🌍 Join the Global Conversation
Event:
International Conference on Pediatrics, Neonatology & Child Health
📅 March
26–28, 2026
📍 Singapore
& Online
🔗 Website: https://pediatrics.miconferences.com/
🔗 Register: https://pediatrics.miconferences.com/register
🔗 Abstract
Submission: https://pediatrics.miconferences.com/abstract-submission
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💬 WhatsApp: +1 (424) 377-0967
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