ArticleScience advances2022
The cost of chewing: The energetics and evolutionary significance of mastication in humans.
Article in Science advances, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Inter-microscope comparability of dental microwear texture data obtained from different optical profilometers: Part II Deriving instrument-specific correction equations for meta-analyses using published data.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Pooled it
- The metabolic effects of habitual leg shaking: A randomized crossover trial.Journal of diabetes · 2024Trial
- Feeding biomechanics in vertebrates and beyond.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Article
- Bite force-gape curves and passive tension costs in Macaca mulatta.The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Dynamic navigation technology combined with zygomatic implants as a surgical strategy for insufficient maxillary bone volume.Journal of dental sciences · 2025Article
- Influence of Framework Material and Abutment Configuration on Fatigue Performance in Dental Implant Systems: A Finite Element Analysis.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- Energetic costs of feeding in 12 species of small-bodied primates.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Introduction: food processing and nutritional assimilation in animals.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Rhythmic chew cycles with distinct fast and slow phases are ancestral to gnathostomes.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Postnatal growth and spatial conformity of the cranium, brain, eyeballs and masseter muscles in the macaque (Macaca mulatta).Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Any change in the energetic cost of mammalian mastication will affect the net energy gain from foods. Although the energetic efficiency of masticatory effort is fundamental in understanding the evolution of the human masticatory system, nothing is known currently about the associated metabolic costs of chewing different items. Here, using respirometry and electromyography of the masseter muscle, we demonstrate that chewing by human subjects represents a measurable energy sink. Chewing a tasteless odorless gum elevates metabolic rate by 10 to 15% above basal levels. Energy expenditure increases with gum stiffness and is paid for by greater muscle recruitment. For modern humans, it is likely that mastication represents a small part of the daily energy budget. However, for our ancestors, before the onset of cooking and sophisticated food processing methods, the costs must have been relatively high, adding a previously unexplored energetic dimension to the interpretation of hominin dentofacial fossils.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.