Energy expenditure and dietary intake in research: A visualization analysis

Area of Science:

• Nutrition Science
• Metabolic Research
• Bibliometrics

Background:

• Accurate assessment of energy expenditure (EE) and dietary intake (DI) is vital for nutritional management and understanding energy balance.
• The rising prevalence of obesity underscores the importance of EE and DI research for public health.
• Current research trends in EE and DI require characterization to inform future studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To perform a visualization and bibliometric analysis of emerging trends in energy expenditure (EE) and dietary intake (DI) literature.
• To characterize publication trends, keywords, and research focus in EE and DI from 2013 to 2023.
• To compare trends between animal and human research models in the field of EE and DI.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of 7149 articles from the Web of Science Core Collection (2013-2023).
• Manual screening to categorize research as animal or human-focused.
• Keyword analysis to identify dominant research themes in EE and DI.

Main Results:

• Annual publications in EE and DI research grew by 8.1% between 2013 and 2022.
• Animal research exhibited a higher publication growth rate (10.1%) compared to human research (4.7%).
• Key research themes included 'energy expenditure,' 'metabolism mechanisms,' 'obesity,' and 'dietary intake,' with 'obesity' being the most frequent keyword in both domains.

Conclusions:

• Distinct trends in publication rates, citation impact, and keyword usage exist between animal and human models in EE and DI research.
• The findings highlight divergent research trajectories and approaches in animal versus human studies.
• Understanding these trends is crucial for advancing nutritional science and addressing metabolic health challenges like obesity.