体型肥胖的狗的体内温度较低（图）
意大利心理学教授Roberto Refinetti博士用狗进行实验，研究了它们体重和体内温度的联系。结果显示瘦弱的狗的体温要高于肥胖的狗，并且通过这种差异足以计算出它们重量的差别。
这项研究的论文发表在最新一期的《International Journal of Obesity》杂志上，论文的通讯作者Refinetti和他的研究小组在意大利西西里的墨西拿大学完成了该项研究。
Refinetti说道：“我们不是非常了解为何肥胖症会在美国流行，但这项研究显示肥胖和体内低温存在联系，因此这可能是其中一个诱因。”
在数年的研究中，他们测试了287只狗的体内温度，发现体型较大的狗体温比体型小的狗要低，在同等体型下，肥胖的狗要比瘦弱的狗低。
大部分的人类或其他动物体重增加主要是由于脂肪的积累，他们通常摄入超过需求的能量，使得未消耗的能量以脂肪的形式存储起来了。
Refinetti说道：“降低体内脂肪存储的一种方法就是尽量少吃，但那意味着你将挨饿。而另一种消耗能量的有效办法是多运动，但大部分的人都缺乏运动。”研究者们提出了他们的假设：肥胖会不会由不易发现的能量消耗降低（体内温度降低）所导致。这个假设源于体内温度较高的恒温动物通常会消耗体内大量能量用于保持体温。而有一些动物的体温在自然条件下就比较低，它们也就不需要消耗过多的能量来保持体温。
研究者们还能通过测试体内温度的降低计算在未来数月内即将增加的重量。
Refinetti说道：“虽然我们还未对人体进行测试，但这些结果显示人类肥胖也有可能是由于体内温度降低所导致。”（生物探索 Jun译）
生物探索推荐英文论文原文摘要：
Association between obesity and reduced body temperature in dogs
Background: Industrialized nations are currently experiencing an obesity epidemic, the causes of which are not fully known. One possible mechanism of enhanced energy efficiency that has received almost no attention is a reduction in the metabolic cost of homeothermy, which could be achieved by a modest lowering of body core temperature. We evaluated the potential of this obesity-inducing mechanism in a canine model of the metabolic syndrome.
Methods: We compared the rectal temperature of lean dogs and obese dogs by (a) conducting cross-sectional measurements in 287 dogs of many breeds varying greatly in body size, (b) conducting longitudinal measurements in individual dogs over 7–10 years and (c) tracking rectal temperature of lean and obese dogs at 3-h intervals for 48 consecutive hours in the laboratory.
Results: We found that larger dogs have lower rectal temperatures than smaller dogs and that, for the same body mass, obese dogs have lower rectal temperatures than lean dogs. The results were consistent in the cross-sectional, longitudinal and around-the-clock measurements.
Conclusion: These findings document an association between obesity and reduced body temperature in dogs and support the hypothesis that obesity in this and other species of homeotherms may result from an increase in metabolic efficiency achieved by a regulated lowering of body temperature.
