Estimating energy expenditure of head-hauling water and grain grinding from heart rate monitor measurements in northern Mozambique

Objective: Even though sub-Saharan African women spend millions of person-hours per day fetching water and pounding grain, to date, few studies have rigorously assessed the energy expenditure costs of such domestic activities. As a result, most analyses that consider head-hauling water or hand pounding of grain with a mortar and pestle (pilao use) employ energy expenditure values derived from limited research. The current paper compares estimated energy expenditure values from heart rate monitorsv. indirect calorimetry in order to understand some of the limitations with using such monitors to measure domestic activities. Design: This confirmation study estimates the metabolic equivalent of task (MET) value for head-hauling water and hand-pounding grain using both indirect calorimetry and heart rate monitors under laboratory conditions. Setting: The study was conducted in Nampula, Mozambique. Participants: Forty university students in Nampula city who recurrently engaged in water-fetching activities. Results: Including all participants, the mean MET value for head hauling 20 litres (20 center dot 5 kg, including container) of water (2 center dot 7 km/h, 0 % slope) was 4 center dot 3 (sd0 center dot 9) and 3 center dot 7 (sd1 center dot 2) for pilao use. Estimated energy expenditure predictions from a mixed model were found to correlate with observed energy expenditure (r(2)0 center dot 68,r0 center dot 82). Re-estimating the model with pilao use data excluded improved the fit substantially (r(2)0 center dot 83,r0 center dot 91). Conclusions: The current study finds that heart rate monitors are suitable instruments for providing accurate quantification of energy expenditure for some domestic activities, such as head-hauling water, but are not appropriate for quantifying expenditures of other activities, such as hand-pounding grain.