Ep. 22: John Speakman—What Causes Obesity?

About this episode

Tucker D. Goodrich interviews John Speakman about the causes of obesity and energy balance.

Introduction I am honored to be joined by John Speakman, a leading authority on energy balance in animals, and in the use of the doubly-labeled water method of determining energy balance. This has led him into the study of obesity, among other topics, where he has become a recognized expert. Our discussion was prompted by his recent paper, "Total Daily Energy Expenditure Has Declined Over the Past Three Decades Due to Declining Basal Expenditure, Not Reduced Activity Expenditure", which casts a new light onto the world pandemic of obesity. In addition to discussing a few of the papers that give some background to that one, and his future research plans in light of that paper, we have an enlightening discussion on the potential role of deuterium in obesity and chronic disease. Biography: "John Roger Speakman (born 1958) FRS FRSE FRSB FRSA FMedSci FRSS is a British biologist working at the University of Aberdeen, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, for which he was Director from 2007 to 2011. He leads the University's Energetics Research Group, which is one of the world's leading groups using doubly labeled water (DLW) to investigate energy expenditure and balance…

People in this episode

Host: Tucker D. Goodrich

Guest: John Speakman

Topics covered

• obesity
• energy balance
• chronic disease
• deuterium
• energy expenditure
• scientific research

Keywords

• obesity
• energy balance
• deuterium
• chronic disease
• energy expenditure
• doubly-labeled water
• scientific research

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Aberdeen, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Books & works: Total Daily Energy Expenditure Has Declined Over the Past Three Decades Due to Declining Basal Expenditure, Not Reduced Activity Expenditure

Places: Beijing, China, Shenzhen

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