Walking Energy Expenditure and Recommendation in Chinese Adults

Objective:The purpose of the study is to measure walking-related energy expenditure during field testing, to identify step-rate cut point associated with moderate and vigorous intensity, and to translate physical activity (PA) guidelines into walking goals for Chinese young adults.Method:A sample of 226 Chinese adults (117 men, 109 women) with a mean age of 21.7 (±0.2) years, volunteered to participate in the study.All the participants completed four 6-minute incremental over ground walking at different speeds of 3.8km/h, 4.8km/h, 5.6km and 6.4km/h, respectively.Indirect calorimeter was used to measure energy expenditure at each speed.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine the steprate cut points associated with moderate and vigorous intensity activity.Results:At the same walking speed, step counts per minute were higher in women than in men.No significant differences were found in VO2 per weight (ml·kg-1·min-1) between women and men.Steprate cut point associated with walking at 3METs and 6METs were 110step·min-1 and 130step·min-1 when analyzing men and women together.There were slight differences on the cut points between women and men if data were analyzed separately.Conclusions:In order to meet PA guidelines, Chinese young adult should walk 30 minutes with at least 110step·min-1, o r3, 300steps or 2 kilometers with the same step-rate per day.Walking at a higher speed of 130step·min-1 might provide additional health benefit.