Diet-Induced Thermogenesis

An immense amount of information has now accrued about the factors that influence the increment of heat and the efficiency with which the energy of food is used by different animal species. Heat increment is one of the major factors that decrease the efficiency of energy utilization. In growing animals, the free energy content of the basal ATP requirement is typically about one-third of dietary basal heat production (thermogenesis). Thermogenesis is an evolutionary and biologically significant mechanism for adaptive, homeostatic heat production in animals, including shivering thermogenesis (ST), nonshivering thermogenesis (NST), diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT), febrile response (fever), and so on. The main focus of this review is on the effect of DIT on energy metabolism.