Total daily energy expenditure and elevated water turnover in a small-scale semi-nomadic pastoralist society from Northern Kenya

Abstract

Background

Pastoralists live in challenging environments, which may be accompanied by unique activity, energy, and water requirements.

Aim

Few studies have examined whether the demands of pastoralism contribute to differences in total energy expenditure (TEE) and water turnover (WT) compared to other lifestyles.

Subjects and methods

Accelerometer-derived physical activity, doubly labelled water-derived TEE and WT, and anthropometric data were collected for 34 semi-nomadic Daasanach adults from three northern Kenyan communities with different levels of pastoralist activity. Daasanach TEEs and WTs were compared to those of other small-scale and industrialised populations.

Results

When modelled as a function of fat-free-mass, fat-mass, age, and sex, TEE did not differ between Daasanach communities. Daasanach TEE (1564–4172 kcal/day) was not significantly correlated with activity and 91% of TEEs were within the range expected for individuals from comparison populations. Mean WT did not differ between Daasanach communities; Daasanach absolute (7.54 litres/day men; 7.46 litres/day women), mass-adjusted, and TEE-adjusted WT was higher than most populations worldwide.

Conclusions

The similar mass-adjusted TEE of Daasanach and industrialised populations supports the hypothesis that habitual TEE is constrained, with physically demanding lifestyles necessitating trade-offs in energy allocation. Elevated WT in the absence of elevated TEE likely reflects a demanding active lifestyle in a hot, arid climate.

Keywords:

• Energy expenditure
• doubly labelled water
• water turnover
• pastoralism

Acknowledgements

We thank Luke Lomeiku, Samuel Esho, Joshua Koribok, David Nyasaga, Ephraim Achau, Koriye Koriye and the community health volunteers that helped with data collection. We thank Purity Kiura, The Koobi Fora Research and Training Program, and The National Museums of Kenya for facilitation with the project. We thank the Illeret Health clinic, Illeret Ward administrator Mr. Koriye Koriye, and all Daasanach communities and participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The work was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF REU #1852406; NSF CNH2-S #1924322) and the Center for Population Health and Aging (CPHA) at Duke University and its NIA Center Grant (P30 AG034424).