FREE SHIPPING over $40
OVER 10000 FIVE-STAR REVIEWS
5% OFF ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS
100% HAPPINESS GUARANTEE
Analyze Diet
0
The British journal of nutrition2014; 113 Suppl; S26-S39; doi: 10.1017/S0007114514002323

Nutritional ecology of obesity: from humans to companion animals.

Abstract: We apply nutritional geometry, a framework for modelling the interactive effects of nutrients on animals, to help understand the role of modern environments in the obesity pandemic. Evidence suggests that humans regulate the intake of protein energy (PE) more strongly than non-protein energy (nPE), and consequently will over- and under-ingest nPE on diets with low or high PE, respectively. This pattern of macronutrient regulation has led to the protein leverage hypothesis, which proposes that the rise in obesity has been caused partly by a shift towards diets with reduced PE:nPE ratios relative to the set point for protein regulation. We discuss potential causes of this mismatch, including environmentally induced reductions in the protein density of the human diet and factors that might increase the regulatory set point for protein and hence exacerbate protein leverage. Economics--the high price of protein compared with fats and carbohydrates--is one factor that might contribute to the reduction of dietary protein concentrations. The possibility that rising atmospheric CO₂ levels could also play a role through reducing the PE:nPE ratios in plants and animals in the human food chain is discussed. Factors that reduce protein efficiency, for example by increasing the use of ingested amino acids in energy metabolism (hepatic gluconeogenesis), are highlighted as potential drivers of increased set points for protein regulation. We recommend that a similar approach is taken to understand the rise of obesity in other species, and identify some key gaps in the understanding of nutrient regulation in companion animals.
Get Full Text
Publication Date: 2014-11-21 PubMed ID: 25415804DOI: 10.1017/S0007114514002323Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
LinkedInCopy
  • Journal Article
  • Research Support
  • Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

The research article investigates the influence of modern diets, rich in non-protein energy (nPE) resulted in obesity among humans and animals. Highlighting the concept of protein leverage hypothesis, it points out how economic and environmental factors contribute to this problem and suggests application of similar approach to understand obesity in other species.

Nutritional Geometry and Protein Leverage Hypothesis

  • The study uses nutritional geometry, a model that explores the impact of various nutrients on animals. Particularly, it discerns human tendency to regulate intake of protein energy (PE), which often leads to over/under ingestion of non-protein energy (nPE) depending on the diet’s PE composition.
  • This trend forms the basis of the protein leverage hypothesis, asserting that rising obesity corresponds to the shift in diets containing lower PE to nPE ratios, further making it challenging to maintain protein balance in the body.

Reasons Contributing to the Mismatch

  • The authors attribute the mismatch between protein intake and energy source to two main factors: environmental impacts and dietary protein concentrations.
  • Environmental factors may reduce the protein density in human diets. For example, increasing levels of atmospheric CO₂ could decrease the PE to nPE ratios in plants and animals making up our food chain.
  • In terms of economics, dietary protein is costlier compared to fats and carbohydrates, which probably leads to diets having lower protein concentrations, contributing to seeking energy from non-protein sources.

Effects on Protein Efficiency

  • The paper also elaborates on factors that deteriorate protein efficiency, substantially increasing the body’s drive to regulate protein set points.
  • A typical example of this is the heightened usage of ingested amino acids in energy metabolism (explained as hepatic gluconeogenesis), which may be a significant trigger for increased regulation of protein.

Applicability to Other Species

  • The authors recommend that this nutritional approach should also be adopted to understand obesity in other species, particularly companion animals.
  • Specific gaps exist in our comprehension about nutrient regulation in animals. Unveiling these gaps can provide a broader and more detailed understanding of obesity diffusion, both in humans and animals.

Cite This Article

APA
Raubenheimer D, Machovsky-Capuska GE, Gosby AK, Simpson S. (2014). Nutritional ecology of obesity: from humans to companion animals. Br J Nutr, 113 Suppl, S26-S39. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114514002323

Publication

The British journal of nutrition
ISSN: 1475-2662
NlmUniqueID: 0372547
Country: England
Language: English
Volume: 113 Suppl
Pages: S26-S39

Researcher Affiliations

Raubenheimer, David
  • The Charles Perkins Centre and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney,Sydney,NSW,Australia.
Machovsky-Capuska, Gabriel E
  • The Charles Perkins Centre and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney,Sydney,NSW,Australia.
Gosby, Alison K
  • The Charles Perkins Centre and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney,Sydney,NSW,Australia.
Simpson, Stephen
  • The Charles Perkins Centre and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney,Sydney,NSW,Australia.

MeSH Terms

  • Animal Welfare
  • Animals
  • Cats
  • Diet / adverse effects
  • Diet / trends
  • Diet / veterinary
  • Dietary Proteins / adverse effects
  • Dogs
  • Energy Intake
  • Environmental Pollution / adverse effects
  • Environmental Pollution / prevention & control
  • Evidence-Based Medicine
  • Evidence-Based Practice
  • Health Promotion
  • Health Transition
  • Horses / growth & development
  • Humans
  • Models, Biological
  • Nutrition Policy
  • Obesity / etiology
  • Obesity / prevention & control
  • Obesity / veterinary
  • Pets / growth & development
  • Social Environment
  • Species Specificity

Citations

This article has been cited 37 times.
  1. Montesinos-Laffont AI, García OP, Elorriaga-Verplancken FR, Acevedo-Whitehouse KA. Linking nutritional biochemistry and trophic ecology to health of adult female California sea lions in the Gulf of California. Conserv Physiol 2025;13(1):coaf056.
    doi: 10.1093/conphys/coaf056pubmed: 40837733google scholar: lookup
  2. Trollman H, Jagtap S, Tamakloe SD, Trollman F. Foraging supply chains: Investigating disaster for improved food provisioning. Ambio 2025 Dec;54(12):2060-2078.
    doi: 10.1007/s13280-025-02205-wpubmed: 40533718google scholar: lookup
  3. Smith DL Jr, Mitchell SE, Johnson MS, Gibbs VK, Dickinson S, Henschel B, Li R, Kaiser KA, Chusyd DE, Brown AW, Allison DB, Speakman JR, Nagy TR. Benefits of calorie restriction in mice are mediated via energy imbalance, not absolute energy or protein intake. Geroscience 2024 Oct;46(5):4809-4826.
    doi: 10.1007/s11357-024-01166-4pubmed: 38850387google scholar: lookup
  4. Sutton J, Habibi M, Shili CN, Beker A, Salak-Johnson JL, Foote A, Pezeshki A. Low-Protein Diets Differentially Regulate Energy Balance during Thermoneutral and Heat Stress in Cobb Broiler Chicken (Gallus domesticus). Int J Mol Sci 2024 Apr 15;25(8).
    doi: 10.3390/ijms25084369pubmed: 38673954google scholar: lookup
  5. Raubenheimer D, Simpson SJ. Protein appetite as an integrator in the obesity system: the protein leverage hypothesis. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023 Oct 23;378(1888):20220212.
    doi: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0212pubmed: 37661737google scholar: lookup
  6. Green GBH, Williams MB, Chehade SB, Flowers JT, Morrow CD, Lawrence AL, Bej AK, Watts SA. Body Metrics and the Gut Microbiome in Response to Macronutrient Limitation in the Zebrafish Danio rerio. Curr Dev Nutr 2023 Apr;7(4):100065.
    doi: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2023.100065pubmed: 37304849google scholar: lookup
  7. Morimoto J, Conceição P, Smoczyk K. Nutrigonometry III: curvature, area and differences between performance landscapes. R Soc Open Sci 2022 Nov;9(11):221326.
    doi: 10.1098/rsos.221326pubmed: 36465681google scholar: lookup
  8. Grech A, Rangan A, Allman-Farinelli M, Simpson SJ, Gill T, Raubenheimer D. A Comparison of the Australian Dietary Guidelines to the NOVA Classification System in Classifying Foods to Predict Energy Intakes and Body Mass Index. Nutrients 2022 Sep 23;14(19).
    doi: 10.3390/nu14193942pubmed: 36235595google scholar: lookup
  9. Senior AM, Legault V, Lavoie FB, Presse N, Gaudreau P, Turcot V, Raubenheimer D, Le Couteur DG, Simpson SJ, Cohen AA. Multidimensional associations between nutrient intake and healthy ageing in humans. BMC Biol 2022 Sep 1;20(1):196.
    doi: 10.1186/s12915-022-01395-zpubmed: 36050730google scholar: lookup
  10. Shu R, Uy L, Wong AC. Nutritional phenotype underlines the performance trade-offs of Drosophila suzukii on different fruit diets. Curr Res Insect Sci 2022;2:100026.
    doi: 10.1016/j.cris.2021.100026pubmed: 36003272google scholar: lookup
  11. Goldsmith JA, Holman ME, Puri P, Khalil RE, Ennasr AN, Gorgey AS. The interaction of macronutrients and body composition among individuals with chronic spinal cord injury. Br J Nutr 2022 Jun 24;:1-12.
    doi: 10.1017/S0007114522001830pubmed: 35738897google scholar: lookup
  12. Raubenheimer D, Senior AM, Mirth C, Cui Z, Hou R, Le Couteur DG, Solon-Biet SM, Léopold P, Simpson SJ. An integrative approach to dietary balance across the life course. iScience 2022 May 20;25(5):104315.
    doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104315pubmed: 35602946google scholar: lookup
  13. Constant A, Badcock P, Friston K, Kirmayer LJ. Integrating Evolutionary, Cultural, and Computational Psychiatry: A Multilevel Systemic Approach. Front Psychiatry 2022;13:763380.
    doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.763380pubmed: 35444580google scholar: lookup
  14. Pezeshki A, Chelikani PK. Low Protein Diets and Energy Balance: Mechanisms of Action on Energy Intake and Expenditure. Front Nutr 2021;8:655833.
    doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.655833pubmed: 34055853google scholar: lookup
  15. J Gray L, B Sokolowski M, J Simpson S. Drosophila as a useful model for understanding the evolutionary physiology of obesity resistance and metabolic thrift. Fly (Austin) 2021 Dec;15(1):47-59.
    doi: 10.1080/19336934.2021.1896960pubmed: 33704003google scholar: lookup
  16. Kang D, Douglas AE. Functional traits of the gut microbiome correlated with host lipid content in a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster. Biol Lett 2020 Feb;16(2):20190803.
    doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0803pubmed: 32097599google scholar: lookup
  17. Larson KR, Chaffin AT, Goodson ML, Fang Y, Ryan KK. Fibroblast Growth Factor-21 Controls Dietary Protein Intake in Male Mice. Endocrinology 2019 May 1;160(5):1069-1080.
    doi: 10.1210/en.2018-01056pubmed: 30802283google scholar: lookup
  18. Heianza Y, Qi L. Impact of Genes and Environment on Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease. Endocrinology 2019 Jan 1;160(1):81-100.
    doi: 10.1210/en.2018-00591pubmed: 30517623google scholar: lookup
  19. Rapkin J, Jensen K, House CM, Wilson AJ, Hunt J. Genotype-by-sex-by-diet interactions for nutritional preference, dietary consumption, and lipid deposition in a field cricket. Heredity (Edinb) 2018 Oct;121(4):361-373.
    doi: 10.1038/s41437-018-0130-xpubmed: 30089778google scholar: lookup
  20. Coogan SCP, Raubenheimer D, Stenhouse GB, Coops NC, Nielsen SE. Functional macronutritional generalism in a large omnivore, the brown bear. Ecol Evol 2018 Feb;8(4):2365-2376.
    doi: 10.1002/ece3.3867pubmed: 29468050google scholar: lookup
  21. Simpson SJ, Le Couteur DG, James DE, George J, Gunton JE, Solon-Biet SM, Raubenheimer D. The Geometric Framework for Nutrition as a tool in precision medicine. Nutr Healthy Aging 2017 Dec 7;4(3):217-226.
    doi: 10.3233/NHA-170027pubmed: 29276791google scholar: lookup
  22. Martínez Steele E, Raubenheimer D, Simpson SJ, Baraldi LG, Monteiro CA. Ultra-processed foods, protein leverage and energy intake in the USA. Public Health Nutr 2018 Jan;21(1):114-124.
    doi: 10.1017/S1368980017001574pubmed: 29032787google scholar: lookup
  23. Medek DE, Schwartz J, Myers SS. Estimated Effects of Future Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations on Protein Intake and the Risk of Protein Deficiency by Country and Region. Environ Health Perspect 2017 Aug 2;125(8):087002.
    doi: 10.1289/EHP41pubmed: 28885977google scholar: lookup
  24. Birnie-Gauvin K, Peiman KS, Raubenheimer D, Cooke SJ. Nutritional physiology and ecology of wildlife in a changing world. Conserv Physiol 2017;5(1):cox030.
    doi: 10.1093/conphys/cox030pubmed: 28740638google scholar: lookup
  25. Louzada MLDC, Ricardo CZ, Steele EM, Levy RB, Cannon G, Monteiro CA. The share of ultra-processed foods determines the overall nutritional quality of diets in Brazil. Public Health Nutr 2018 Jan;21(1):94-102.
    doi: 10.1017/S1368980017001434pubmed: 28714425google scholar: lookup
  26. Rapkin J, Archer CR, Grant CE, Jensen K, House CM, Wilson AJ, Hunt J. Little evidence for intralocus sexual conflict over the optimal intake of nutrients for life span and reproduction in the black field cricket Teleogryllus commodus. Evolution 2017 Sep;71(9):2159-2177.
    doi: 10.1111/evo.13299pubmed: 28640400google scholar: lookup
  27. Wycherley TP, Pekarsky BA, Ferguson MM, O'Dea K, Brimblecombe JK. Fluctuations in money availability within an income cycle impacts diet quality of remote Indigenous Australians. Public Health Nutr 2017 Jun;20(8):1431-1440.
    doi: 10.1017/S1368980016003360pubmed: 28069086google scholar: lookup
  28. Fabbri A, Chartres N, Scrinis G, Bero LA. Study sponsorship and the nutrition research agenda: analysis of randomized controlled trials included in systematic reviews of nutrition interventions to address obesity. Public Health Nutr 2017 May;20(7):1306-1313.
    doi: 10.1017/S1368980016003128pubmed: 27989264google scholar: lookup
  29. de Laat MA, Hampson BA, Sillence MN, Pollitt CC. Sustained, Low-Intensity Exercise Achieved by a Dynamic Feeding System Decreases Body Fat in Ponies. J Vet Intern Med 2016 Sep;30(5):1732-1738.
    doi: 10.1111/jvim.14577pubmed: 27639952google scholar: lookup
  30. Santos AC, Correia CA, de Oliveira DC, Nogueira-Pedro A, Borelli P, Fock RA. Intravenous Glutamine Administration Modulates TNF-α/IL-10 Ratio and Attenuates NFkB Phosphorylation in a Protein Malnutrition Model. Inflammation 2016 Dec;39(6):1883-1891.
    doi: 10.1007/s10753-016-0424-1pubmed: 27565164google scholar: lookup
  31. Shik JZ, Gomez EB, Kooij PW, Santos JC, Wcislo WT, Boomsma JJ. Nutrition mediates the expression of cultivar-farmer conflict in a fungus-growing ant. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016 Sep 6;113(36):10121-6.
    doi: 10.1073/pnas.1606128113pubmed: 27551065google scholar: lookup
  32. Gosby AK, Lau NS, Tam CS, Iglesias MA, Morrison CD, Caterson ID, Brand-Miller J, Conigrave AD, Raubenheimer D, Simpson SJ. Raised FGF-21 and Triglycerides Accompany Increased Energy Intake Driven by Protein Leverage in Lean, Healthy Individuals: A Randomised Trial. PLoS One 2016;11(8):e0161003.
    doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161003pubmed: 27536869google scholar: lookup
  33. Senior AM, Gosby AK, Lu J, Simpson SJ, Raubenheimer D. Meta-analysis of variance: an illustration comparing the effects of two dietary interventions on variability in weight. Evol Med Public Health 2016;2016(1):244-55.
    doi: 10.1093/emph/eow020pubmed: 27491895google scholar: lookup
  34. Campbell CP, Raubenheimer D, Badaloo AV, Gluckman PD, Martinez C, Gosby A, Simpson SJ, Osmond C, Boyne MS, Forrester TE. Developmental contributions to macronutrient selection: a randomized controlled trial in adult survivors of malnutrition. Evol Med Public Health 2016;2016(1):158-69.
    doi: 10.1093/emph/eov030pubmed: 26817484google scholar: lookup
  35. Lagisz M, Blair H, Kenyon P, Uller T, Raubenheimer D, Nakagawa S. Little appetite for obesity: meta-analysis of the effects of maternal obesogenic diets on offspring food intake and body mass in rodents. Int J Obes (Lond) 2015 Dec;39(12):1669-78.
    doi: 10.1038/ijo.2015.160pubmed: 26293233google scholar: lookup
  36. Solon-Biet SM, Mitchell SJ, Coogan SC, Cogger VC, Gokarn R, McMahon AC, Raubenheimer D, de Cabo R, Simpson SJ, Le Couteur DG. Dietary Protein to Carbohydrate Ratio and Caloric Restriction: Comparing Metabolic Outcomes in Mice. Cell Rep 2015 Jun 16;11(10):1529-34.
    doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2015.05.007pubmed: 26027933google scholar: lookup
  37. Raubenheimer D, Machovsky-Capuska GE, Chapman CA, Rothman JM. Geometry of nutrition in field studies: an illustration using wild primates. Oecologia 2015 Jan;177(1):223-34.
    doi: 10.1007/s00442-014-3142-0pubmed: 25433693google scholar: lookup
Subscribe to our newsletter
Join 99,970 horse owners like you who receive our email updates on horse health and nutrition.