Indirect calorimetry remains the gold standard in measuring energy expenditure and substrate oxidation in a wide range of clinical and research settings. The methods most commonly used have a severely limited time frame: both hood and mask measurements only last 20 minutes typical. This gives limited insight into the dynamics of physiological responses in the human body. Longer measurements are crucial to gain a better insight in human metabolism. The most practical way of achieving this is in a room calorimeter. Test subjects can move around, spend multiple days in a fully controlled environment, all while measuring energy expenditure and the associated parameters.

The whole body room calorimeter allows calculation of energy expenditure and human RQ continuously over long periods of time, based on measurements of respiratory exchanges (Indirect Calorimetry), in the following applications:

• accurate calculation of the energy balance over 24h based on the monitoring of energy inputs (food) and energy expenses (basal metabolism, activity energy expenditure, diet induced thermogenesis
• determination of the kinetics of energy expenditure
• evaluation of the nutritional needs of a specific population, eg athletes
• determination of metabolic disturbances
• study of the thermogenic properties of nutrients, medicines and nutritional formulas (diets)
• exploration of energy expenditure under usual conditions of life

The room indirect calorimeter chambers allow an accurate estimation of  energy expenditure and the use of energy substrates (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) of an individual living under conditions. All under precise control of the environment, physical activity and diet.