Play all audios:
ABSTRACT Possible adaptations to a low protein intake are: a decrease in the obligatory nitrogen loss, which would be too small to detect in short-term studies, but would be significant over
a longer term; an increase in the efficiency of protein utilization, which has been demonstrated in depleted subjects; and a decrease in lean body mass, mainly at the expense of muscle.
However, we do not know the extent to which this last mechanism may really be an adaptation without significant functional loss. In the case of energy there is controversy about the extent
to which the gross efficiency of muscular work can be improved. One mechanism might be an alteration in the distribution of fibre types, with a shift from fast to slow fibres. A possible way
of reducing the cost of both muscular work and basal metabolism would be a reduction in the mitochondrial proton leak. Both these mechanisms are at least partially under the control of the
thyroid gland, which therefore may play an important role in economizing energy expenditure. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content,
access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per year only $21.58 per issue Learn
more Buy this article * Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS
OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS EFFECTS OF DIETARY PROTEIN-LOAD AND ALKALINE
SUPPLEMENTATION ON ACID–BASE BALANCE AND GLUCOSE METABOLISM IN HEALTHY ELDERLY Article 01 September 2020 EFFECTS OF PROTEIN INTAKE FROM AN ENERGY-RESTRICTED DIET ON THE SKELETAL MUSCLE
COMPOSITION OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESE RATS Article Open access 27 November 2022 EFFECTS OF SEVEN DAYS’ FASTING ON PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE AND METABOLIC ADAPTATION DURING EXERCISE IN HUMANS
Article Open access 02 January 2025 AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Public Health and Nutrition Unit, London School of Hygiene
& Tropical Medicine, London, UK JC Waterlow Authors * JC Waterlow View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS It is interesting
that although Claude Bernard' dictum “La fixité du milieu intérieur est la condition de la vie libre” has been quoted with reverence by physiologists for more than 100 years, that great
teacher, Barcroft, took a different line. He says “The principle enunciated by Claude Bernard, if dressed up in modern language, seems to me just a little grotesque. To say that the
temperature of the body is adjusted to the tenth part of 1% on the absolute scale, or the hydrogen ion concentration to the hundredth part of a pH so that the organism may maintain a free
life, is surely to make a very ill balanced statement. The accuracy of the first clause contrasts almost comically with the vagueness of the second” (Barcroft, 1934). RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS
Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Waterlow, J. The nature and significance of nutritional adaptation. _Eur J Clin Nutr_ 53 (Suppl 1), s2–s5 (1999).
https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600739 Download citation * Received: 16 February 1998 * Revised: 22 June 1998 * Accepted: 10 July 1998 * Published: 28 May 1999 * Issue Date: 01 April 1999 *
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600739 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not
currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative KEYWORDS * adaptation * protein * energy * thyroid