Determination of energy metabolism from respiratory functions alone.

To monitor variations of energy metabolism on-line a system which accurately measures VO2 and VCO2 is described. The calculation of the energy metabolism usually requires knowledge of nitrogen production. This paper presents a formula that allows calculation on-line on the energy metabolism with a maximum relative error of 4% as function of VO2 and VCO2 only. Some experimental results in normal subjects are presented.