To determine the magnitude of the thermogenic response to a massive long-term overfeeding, an energy-balance study was carried out in nine lean, young Cameroonian men participating in a traditional fattening session: the Guru Walla. Food intake, body weight, body composition, activity, and metabolic rates were recorded during a 10-d baseline period and over the 61-65 d of fattening. Total energy expenditure (TEE) was measured by using doubly labeled water during the baseline period and the final 10 d of Guru Walla. Cumulative overfeeding consisted of 955 +/- 252 MJ (chi +/- SD) mainly as carbohydrate. Body-weight increase was 17 +/- 4 kg, 64-75% as fat. Metabolic rates increased but TEE did not. However, when accounting for the reduction in physical activity, substantial thermogenesis was observed but its amplitude was not greater than that observed under less extreme carbohydrate-overfeeding conditions. If luxuskonsumption does exist, it is not related to the magnitude of the cumulative overfeeding.

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Man's nutritional behavior should be studied not only from the physiological and psychological standpoint but also from the socio-cultural point of view. Man is a social being, his deeply-rooted food habits have developed within a culture and they vary widely from one society to another. The socio-cultural factors bearing on food and nutrition range from material technologies to implicit ideologies and symbols, and are interrelated in an original pattern. Techniques such as food production, processing and cooking, and conflicting scales of values should all be taken into account. Although general correlations may seem obvious between food, nutrition and various cultural factors as they appear in our society, we are far from having determined the rules to which food behavior conforms. Although the western industrialized civilization tends to spread throughout the world, we should be careful to analyse painstakingly the socio-cultmal aspects of each concrete case, and avoid hasty generalizations if we are to make any progress in fundamental research and develop efficient programs aiming at nutritional wellbeing.