Steven B. Heymsfield, M.D.

CURRICULUM VITAE:

Steven B. Heymsfield received his B.A. 1966 from Hunter College and his M.D. in 1971 from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in NY. His principal research interests are energy metabolism; thermogenesis and nutritional status; body composition; new methodologies and ethnic differences; obesity and nutritional assessment; and human and clinical nutrition. The general area of research in Dr. Heymsfield's laboratory is human energy metabolism and its relation to body composition. We are also carrying out clinical studies of obesity. Our laboratory is focused in three areas. The first involves the study of energy metabolism throughout the adult life-span. Currently the laboratory has facilities to study energy expenditure at rest and during exercise. We can also measure total energy expenditure over two weeks using the doubly-labeled water method. Finally, within a short time period the laboratory will also have a respiratory-chamber indirect calorimeter for carrying out thermogenesis measurements over several days. Obesity pathogenesis and treatment, aging, and physical activity are all current areas that we are investigating in relation to energy metabolism.

The second area involves the study of human body composition. The combined facilities to study body composition at St. Luke's and associated laboratories are extensive and include techniques such as neutron activation analysis for measuring whole-body amounts of many elements. Over the past several years, we have focused on developing or validating new methods, particularly those that promise to provide accurate estimates of skeletal muscle mass. An aim is to examine energy expenditure in the obese and elderly using these new methods in an attempt to understand the major determinants of thermogenesis and how they differ between individuals. Another topic of interest is the relation between body composition and ethnicity. In particular, we have found that skeletal weight and linear dimensions differ between ethnic groups; a study is now in progress that is examining the hormonal and cellular basis for these differences.

The third area of research is the clinical evaluation and treatment of obesity. Under investigation are social, psychological, genetic, dietary, and thermogenic causes of obesity. Investigators in the laboratory are also studying various pharmacologic and nutritional treatments of obesity.

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Some of Dr. Heymsfield's Work

• Principal Research Interests
• Garcinia cambogia (Hydroxycitric Acid) as a Potential Antiobesity Agent
• Standardization of Nomenclature of Body Composition in Weight Loss
• Prader-Willi syndrome: relationship of adiposity to plasmaleptin levels
• How Useful Is Body Mass Index for Comparison of Body Fatness across Age, Sex, and Ethnic Groups?
• Total-body skeletal muscle mass: evaluation of 24-h urinary creatinine excretion by computerized axialtomography
• BONE MINERAL CONTENT: Comparison of Three Commercially Available Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometers and Delayed Gamma Neutron Activation to Direct Chemical Analysis
• Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry: fat estimation errors due to variation in soft tissue hydration
• Total body lipid and triglyceride response to energy deficit: relevance to body composition models
• Body Composition at the Bedside
• HUMAN BODY COMPOSITION: Advances in Models and Methods
• Body Composition, Nutrition, and Health of Military Women
• A comparative study of different means of assessing long-term energy expenditure in humans

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Obesity Research Center
St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center
1090 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10025
Tel: (212) 523-3561
Fax: (212) 523-3571
E-mail:sbh2@columbia.edu

CORE LABS:
Human Body Composition and Energy Expenditure

STUDIES:
Aging and Skeletal Muscle Study

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