18 Apr Does metabolic testing really work?

Metabolic testing isn’t junk science. Metabolic health and related factors are strongly linked to the risk of developing conditions such as insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke. Looking beyond weight alone, metabolic testing can help you understand your health risks and assess how well your body’s systems are working.

Many types of metabolic tests can provide people striving to reach and maintain a healthy weight, those struggling with chronic conditions, athletes, and more to identify how their bodies’ metabolisms are working and what dietary and lifestyle interventions they might need to improve wellness.

Types of Metabolic Tests:

RMR:

The Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is a very accurate way to measure how many calories your body burns at rest.

BMR:  

Basil Metabolic Rate (BMR) test is a more involved test requiring a controlled environment. It measures the number of calories a body burns while performing basic (basil) life-sustaining functions (breathing, heart rate, kidney function) etc. 

Maximum Volume of Oxygen (VO2 Max):

This is a test that measures the body’s ability to effectively use oxygen during exercise and/or physical activity. 

Lactate Threshold Test:

This test measures the point at which lactic acid accumulates in the blood during exercise, leading to muscle fatigue. It’s a useful metric for determining metabolic activity, particularly for athletes.

Health Parameters:

While not solely for metabolism, factors such as blood pressure, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and waist circumference can also be part of metabolic testing.

Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP):

Known as Chem-14, this blood test includes 14 different measurements. It assesses metabolism, liver and kidney function, nutrient levels, and other indicators to ensure normal metabolic processes. It also serves as a general health assessment and can aid in diagnosis or screening.

How do you measure Resting Metabolic Rate?

At NYC Nutritionist, we offer metabolic testing as part of our functional nutritionist approach. We use the ReeVue® test. It is an on-site test, and it takes approximately an hour to an hour and a half. 

The ReeVue® measures the oxygen the body uses and calculates Resting Energy Expenditure (REE), also known as Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). Following strict lab protocol, the REEVUE can also measure Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).

Why is the resting metabolic rate important?

A client’s REE helps identify unusually low metabolic rates, educate about energy balance, and determine the specific calorie intake needed for weight loss or weight gain. Its applications include treating obesity and obesity-related conditions such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, hypertension, heart disease, and sleep apnea.

Knowing your RMR can help you plan a personalized diet and exercise regimen to achieve your weight goals. It can also be important information for athletes and people with certain medical conditions to optimize nutrition and training programs.

How can I boost my metabolism naturally?

Well … you can’t … not much anyway. (We know! So many make claims about metabolic miracles and the like, but the science tells us otherwise.) 

Metabolism is essentially the process that converts food and nutrients into energy. It’s active 24/7 and determines how many calories we burn.

Your metabolism —fast, average, or slow—is largely influenced by genetics. We all know someone who can eat a large pizza and cheesecake without gaining weight. But thinness doesn’t guarantee health, and a fast metabolism can hide underlying health issues.

Factors like body composition, gender, age, and hormones also affect metabolism. These differences often impact how easily one can lose or gain weight. Those with slower metabolisms may find it harder to lose weight, while those with faster metabolisms might struggle to gain weight.

Increasing lean body mass through weight training can slightly increase your metabolism by increasing metabolically active tissue. Your metabolic rate also rises after eating a meal due to the thermic effect of food. This increase is about 10% of the calories you consume, so a larger meal can have a bigger impact on your metabolic rate. Meals high in protein can slightly increase metabolic rate more than meals high in carbohydrates or fat.

We want to emphasize slight increase.

Crash dieting has the opposite affect, slowing your metabolism because your body reacts to the lack of energy  and slows down internal processes. Our bodies want us to survive, and calorie deprivation makes our bodies believe they need to conserve energy for those basic functions (breathing, thinking, blinking, etc.). This Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics discusses how low-calorie diets sabotage health, including your metabolism.

Metabolic testing can be an important tool for health, fitness, weight management, and diagnosis or screening. Contact a dietitian nutritionist or healthcare practitioner to learn more.

Susie Orbach continues to challenge the way we view dieting and criticizes the media’s role in pushing a European-thin ideal on women and girls. She writes, “If you continually diet, you are putting your body in a quasi-famine situation. It slows your metabolism down and breaks the thermostat. Diets don’t work. They don’t help you understand why you’re eating more than your body wanted in the first place.”