Weight Loss Glossary T

Thermic Effect Of Food

The energy spent above the normal resting metabolism rate due to the cost of processing food during digestion.^[1]

When you eat, your body responds to this by increasing the rate at which you expend energy or calories and this is called the Thermic Effect or meal induced thermo-genesis. How much energy your body spends is based upon what the food is (it's nutrients and structure).

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This energy is spent on digestion of food, metabolism of food, conversion and storage of macronutrients.

Gibney et. al. (2002) states that the thermic effect of food represents about 10% of the caloric content of the meal that is consumed.^[2] However, McArdle et. al. (1986) points out that it can actually vary "from 10 - 35% of the ingested food energy in normal individuals depending on both the quantity and type of food eaten."^[3]

Source:

[1] Answers.Com

[2] Gibney, M. J., Vorster, H. H., Frans, J. K., (2002) Introduction to Human Nutrition Blackwell Science, Blackwell Publishing p. 31

[3] McArdle, W.D., Katch, F.I., Katch, V.L., (1986) Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition, and Human Performance Lea and Febiger Philadelphia p. 134

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