Research
Energy balance
Obese individuals exhibit significantly lower diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) compared to lean individuals when matched for age and other factors.
Obesity is associated with a reduced ability to burn calories through diet-induced thermogenesis. This means that obese individuals may not burn as many extra calories from food as lean individuals, potentially contributing to weight maintenance challenges.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Of 29 studies, in which the subjects with obesity had a significantly higher body mass index compared with the lean individuals, and the two groups were well matched for age, 22 studies reported a significantly lower DIT in the subjects with obesity.
Why this rating
Based on a review of 49 studies, with 29 showing significant differences in well-matched groups.
Source
Diet induced thermogenesis
Klaas R. Westerterp · Nutrition & Metabolism · 2004
DOI 10.1186/1743-7075-1-5
narrative_reviewCited 528×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Increasing the protein fraction of a meal significantly increases diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) compared to carbohydrate or fat, with protein showing the highest thermic effect among macronutrients.Good
- Alcohol consumption increases diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) similarly to protein, but it does not positively affect energy balance or body weight regulation.Moderate
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