# Metabolic Rate

Category: Metabolism

The metabolic rate is very closely related to thyroid hormone function, but defining it and measuring it have to be done with awareness of its complexity.

12 passages · 3 authors · 1994–2026 · Most-cited: [Ray Peat](https://bioenergeticoracle.com/md/voices/ray-peat/index.md)

Canonical page: https://bioenergeticoracle.com/concepts/metabolic-rate

## Synthesis

**Metabolic rate** is the speed of electron flow through the electron transport chain, the rate of oxygen consumption, and the efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation, not merely the static level of ATP produced. [Source 3] Peat argued that the very act of respiring intensely—the *high metabolic rate*, the rapid electron flow, the high oxygen consumption—is what keeps cells healthy, with ATP as a necessary byproduct rather than the primary mediator. [Source 3] This framing positions metabolic rate as the fundamental determinant of cellular readiness and health, directly opposing mainstream views that focus exclusively on ATP levels. [Source 3]

The metabolic rate is very closely related to **thyroid hormone function**, but defining and measuring it requires awareness of its complexity. [Source 7] Peat observed that from puberty to old age, oxygen consumption decreases by about 70% unless intervention occurs, a decline corresponding to the increase in mortality. [Source 8] He cited G.W. Crile's global studies showing that people in very different traditional cultures had basal metabolic rates about 30% higher than the average American, and that Crile believed the brain represented the basal metabolic rate. [Source 8] A simple set of self-diagnostics—pulse rate and underarm body temperature taken in tandem—can estimate the current status of the metabolic rate, thyroid health, and the ability to produce energy. [Source 4, 5] Additional indicators include the amount of water and calories disposed of in a day, and the rate of carbon dioxide production. [Source 7] Those with suppressed metabolic rates usually have low pulse rates (50-70 beats per minute), may exhibit cold extremities, and can suffer from a host of maladies including constipation, anxiety, depression, and poor sleep. [Source 5, 12]

Peat's perspective inverts the conventional "rate-of-living" theory of aging. Within a given species of bird or mammal, a higher rate of metabolism is often associated with a higher body temperature and a long life span. [Source 9] Comparing animals of different species of similar sizes, those with the highest metabolic rate are likely to have the longest average and maximum lifespans. [Source 9] A study of 18 strains of mice found a clear association between a higher metabolic rate and greater longevity. [Source 2] Peat noted that birds generally live longer than mammals of the same weight, though their body temperature is several degrees warmer, and that parrots with relatively large brains have an extremely long life span compared to mammals of the same body size. [Source 2] The apparent paradox of small animals having high metabolism but short lifespans is explained by surface-area-to-mass ratios: most of a mouse's metabolic energy is spent simply maintaining its body temperature, whereas larger animals spend relatively little energy on temperature regulation. [Source 9] The end product of respiration, **carbon dioxide**, is an essential component of the life process, and the ability to produce and retain enough carbon dioxide is as important for longevity as the ability to conserve enough heat. [Source 9]

A high metabolic rate, characteristic of a healthy young adolescent, is described as an *oxidative metabolism* in which glucose is broken down in the presence of oxygen, and healthy mitochondria produce energy and carbon dioxide. [Source 12] Peat argued that if we optimize the known factors which improve energy production—red light, short-chain and medium-chain saturated fats, and **pregnenolone**, for example—to the extent that our metabolism resembles that of a ten-year-old child, there is no reason to suppose we would not have the regenerative, healing abilities common at that age. [Source 1] This youthful, high-energy state is contrasted with the decline driven by stress hormones. Roddy and Dinkov have emphasized that a high pulse and temperature can sometimes be driven by *adrenaline and cortisol* rather than thyroid, making it crucial to distinguish between a truly oxidative metabolism and a stress-driven one. [Source 10] Dinkov notes that if waking temperature is not at least 97 to 98 degrees and waking pulse is not at least 75 to 80 beats per minute, thyroid function is likely suboptimal. [Source 11]

Improving a suppressed metabolic rate involves removing metabolic inhibitors from food, particularly **PUFA** and phyto-/xeno-/synthetic estrogens, and supporting the cell's ability to produce energy efficiently. [Source 11, 12] Peat demonstrated that a high-sugar diet with adequate calcium increased carbon dioxide production and brought a previously subnormal metabolic rate up almost to normal, noting that the liver needs sugar to convert thyroxine into the active T3 hormone. [Source 6] Progesterone supports oxidative energy and opposes all of the effects of estrogen, while serotonin inhibits oxidative energy and increases cortisol, estrogen, and prolactin. [Source 5] The metabolic rate is thus not a fixed trait but a modifiable state reflecting the organism's capacity for *generative energy*, an inherent ability to produce energy that can be suppressed anytime stress is encountered. [Source 5, 12]

## People also ask

### How does a high metabolic rate relate to longevity?

Peat argued that within a species, a higher metabolic rate is often associated with a longer lifespan, citing studies on mice and observations that birds with higher temperatures live longer than similar-sized mammals.

### What simple measurements can indicate a suppressed metabolic rate?

The corpus describes using waking pulse rate and underarm body temperature; a pulse below 75–80 beats per minute and temperature under 97–98 degrees Fahrenheit suggest suboptimal thyroid function and a suppressed metabolic rate.

### How does sugar intake affect metabolic rate?

Peat demonstrated that a high-sugar diet with adequate calcium increased carbon dioxide production and helped normalize a subnormal metabolic rate, because the liver requires sugar to convert thyroxine into the active T3 hormone.

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## Cited passages

Passage numbers match the `[Source N]` markers in the synthesis above.

### Source 1 — Generative Energy: Restoring the Wholeness of Life

Ray Peat · Book · 1994

> (R. Criddle and L. Hansen, in Plant, Cell, and Environment, report that a plant's metabolic rate, measured as heat production, can predict its future growth rate. Jerry Barnes, a tree developer in Cottage Grove, Oregon, discovered several years ago that the intensity of the metabolic activity even in seeds can be used to accurately predict the future performance of the tree, cutting many years out of the process of tree improvement. The story of how his work was received at the state university is interesting; he did some quick lab tests on seed provided by the university, and they confirmed that he had correctly chosen the seeds which produced the best trees in their 13 year study, but they simply rejected his result as not conforming to accepted ideas.) According to Jerry Barnes' theory, trees become able to move into less favorable niches by accumulating "restraint genes," which limit their growth, but prevent death by making them able to tolerate marginal conditions. The theory of Criddle and Hansen seems to be similar, in looking for a stable metabolic rate when the plant is subjected to stress. Upward adaptiveness, which is typical of large-brained animals and of plants with a high metabolic rate, allows the organisms to find more expansive niches by living at a higher energy level. This process obviously places great importance on an environment which can provide abundant energy and the necessary nutritional substances. The fact that steroids seem to be made by all organisms except viruses, and are often identical in very different organisms (e.g., estrogen in yeast is exactly the same as human estrogen), has led me to experiment with "animal" hormones, such as progesterone, on plants. I think the systematic effects on "gene expression" and biochemical functioning that steroids are known to have in animals can also be seen in plants. Producing energy abundantly, and using it efficiently: This seems to be an important effect of certain steroids. It might amount to a kind of by-passing of the "restraint genes." The kinds of changes which can be induced by hormones can also be inherited. 2
>
> If we optimize the known factors which improve energy production (red light, short-chain and medium-chain saturated fats, and pregnenolone, for example), to the extent that our metabolism resembles that of a ten year old child, I don't think there is any reason to suppose that we wouldn't have the regenerative, healing abilities which are common at that age.

### Source 2 — Generative Energy: Restoring the Wholeness of Life

Ray Peat · Book · 1994

> Besides the observation of greater oxygen consumption in the low fat animals, and high protein turn-over in calorie restricted animals, there are observations in a variety of organisms associating a higher metabolic rate with greater longevity. While most longevity studies of flies involved altering the temperature of their environment, studies of differences of metabolic rate at a given temperature have in several cases found greater longevity in the high metabolizers. A study of 18 strains of mice found a clear association between a higher metabolic rate and greater longevity.1 Recent studies (e.g., Joseph Graves') are showing similar associations in insects. Sacher popularized the idea that a larger brain is associated with a longer life span, and others more recently have refined the idea in connection with body size, index of cephalization. and metabolic rate. For example, M. A. Hoffman ("Energy metabolism, brain size, and longevity in mammals," Quar. Rev. Biol. 58(4),495-512) said "...it has been shown that the ratio of cortex-to-brain metabolic rates is independent of body size, and increases with the evolutionary level of brain development." (Figure 1) It is interesting to consider that birds generally live longer than mammals of the same weight, though their brains are usually smaller, and their body temperature is several degrees warmer. Among birds, parrots and other relatively large-brained birds have an extremely long life span, compared with mammals of the same body size. For example, a rat lives about 2 years, at 98 degrees F., and a medium sized parrot lives about 70 years, at 104 degrees. According to H. Rahn ("Time, energy, and body size," chapter 16 in Physiology, editors C. V. Paganelli and L. E. Farhi, Springer-Verlag, 1988), the total energy per gram of tissue per life span is about four times higher in. passerine birds than in mammals.
>
> Undoubtedly, he meant us to infer that these "uncivilized" people fell on the same line as animals, because their brains lacked the cultural quiet parts. My interpretation is that they ate traditional diets, rather than the grain-based diet of the United States and Europe which suppresses brain metabolism, in the same way that the "normal" animal diets suppress metabolism (and decrease longevity).

### Source 3 — Metabolic (OXPHOS) speed/rate, not ATP levels, determines health (and keeps cancer in check)

Georgi Dinkov · Article · May 23, 2026 · https://haidut.me/?p=3039

> Mainstream “mitochondrial medicine” is almost exclusively obsessed with ATP levels. The assumption is that mitochondria are important only because they produce energy, and that the only metric that matters is how much ATP a cell can generate. Ray has argued for years that this is a fundamentally reductionist and flawed view. What actually matters is metabolic rate — the speed of electron flow through the electron transport chain (ETC), the rate of oxygen consumption, and the efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation as a process, not the static levels of its end products. A cell can have high ATP but be metabolically stagnant (low electron flow, high reductive stress). Conversely, a cell can have lower ATP but be metabolically active (high electron flow, high oxidative capacity).
>
> The study below, published in Cell Metabolism and led by researchers at CNIC and IRB Barcelona, directly validates this view. They show that dendritic cells (the immune system’s sentinels) remain in a “ready-to-respond” state not because of ATP levels, but because of the flow of electrons through the mitochondrial respiratory chain. When they restored electron flow using an alternative enzyme (AOX) without increasing energy production, they recovered immune function. This is a direct experimental demonstration that metabolic speed, not ATP, determines cellular readiness and anti-cancer immunity.
>
> As the study below demonstrates, researchers found that a specific mitochondrial process — the flow of electrons through the respiratory chain — is essential to keep dendritic cells primed and ready to respond to threats like tumors. Using genetically modified mouse models and human dendritic cells, they showed that immune readiness does not depend primarily on energy production (ATP) , but on maintaining electron flow through the mitochondrial chain.
>
> This electron flow preserves the cell’s internal chemical balance, including redox state and metabolite levels. When they disrupted this balance, dendritic cells showed reduced activation, diminished migration to lymph nodes, and a weakened ability to stimulate T cells. As a result, anti-tumor immune responses were compromised.
>
> The most striking finding came when the researchers restored electron flow using an alternative enzyme (AOX) — without increasing ATP production. This manipulation recovered the cells’ ability to activate T cells and control tumor growth in mice. In other words, the speed of respiration itself, independent of ATP yield, determines immune function.
>
> This is exactly what I and Ray Peat have been saying for years.

### Source 4 — #01: Thyroid, CO2, Redox Balance, and Hans Selye's Stress with Georgi Dinkov

Georgi Dinkov · Interview · May 3, 2019 · https://open.spotify.com/episode/2lolRyxtgPXLaCvEAmSZyQ

> **Danny Roddy:** So I just pulled – you can't see it, but I just pulled up Dan's ankle sign of hypothyroidism, which is like such a good video. And Dan did just an amazing job. So if anybody needs to put some of these ideas into practice, you can thump your ankle or have a partner thump your ankle. You can take your underarm temperature upon waking and then again in the afternoon after lunch. You can take your – and like Georgi said, you could do it in tandem with the pulse rate and then that could give you an estimate of your metabolic rate.

### Source 5 — The Peat Whisperer

Danny Roddy · Book · 2012

> # The Peat Whisperer
> ## Competing Theories of Degeneration The Metabolic Rate
>
> **Danny Roddy:** The work of Dr. Raymond Peat1 is at odds with most dietary paradigms. Rather than subscribing to nutritional theories of evolution, ethics, or what factor made an isolated group of people healthy, Dr. Peat’s philosophy is focused on promoting and supporting our capacity for generative energy. Our inherent ability to produce energy can be suppressed anytime we encounter stress. While stress is often thought of as a state of being, the biological effects of a chronic stressor (or a great stress) influence the entire organism on the cellular level. When we encounter a stress, our cells vigorously produce energy using glucose and oxygen in an attempt to overcome the stressor. If energy production is inadequate (a lack of oxygen during exercise for example), the body will compensate by releasing adaptive stress hormones to meet energy requirements. Stress in itself is not pathogenic—it is an indispensable physiological ability to adapt when the production of energy is insufficient—but the hormones and inflammatory markers closely associated with our response to stress, if used excessively, play a pivotal role in the development in most all diseases.2 Because stress increases our energy requirements, efficiently producing energy, at the cellular level, can strongly influence our physical and mental response to stress. The metabolic rate, the rate at which calories are burned, is an accurate representation of our cellular ability to produce energy. The metabolic rate is influenced by a variety of factors, especially the thyroid gland. A simple set of self-diagnostics (pulse rate and underarm body temperature) can be used to estimate the current status of the metabolic rate, thyroid health, and our ability to produce energy.

### Source 6 — Herb Doctors: Phosphate And Calcium Metabolism

Ray Peat · Interview · Sep 21, 2012 · http://l-i-g-h-t.com/files/herb-doctors-phosphate-and-calcium-metabolism.mp4

> **Andrew Murray:** So do you think any of this could be an energy-driven process by this sugar? Directly as a fuel to cellular respiration and…
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yes; as they saw in William Brown's study, the high-sugar diet with calcium increased his production of carbon dioxide. When he started the experiment, his metabolic rate was 10 or 12% below normal; when he got on that diet, it came up almost to normal. And his production of carbon dioxide, respiratory quotient, was higher than it had ever been.
>
> **Andrew Murray:** This would be measured by his basal body temperature, right? That would be a good way for people to assess their own metabolic rate?
>
> **Ray Peat:** Yea, that's the quickest way to look at it.
>
> **Sarah Johannesen Murray:** And also, monitoring their carbon dioxide in blood tests. And everything we were talking about earlier today, Dr. Peat, was the phosphorus in the blood. The phosphate in the blood, and there is a comprehensive metabolic panel to include phosphate in the blood and there is a range like 2.5 to 4.5 mg per deciliter; and you said it's better when it’s between 2 and 3.

### Source 7 — Glossary

Ray Peat · Glossary

> Metabolic Rate
>
> The metabolic rate is very closely related to thyroid hormone function, but defining it and measuring it have to be done with awareness of its complexity.
>
> "Basal” body temperature is influenced by many things besides thyroid. The resting heart rate helps to interpret the temperature. In a cool environment, the temperature of the extremities is sometimes a better indicator than the oral or eardrum temperature.
>
> The “basal” metabolic rate, especially if the rate of carbon dioxide production is measured, is very useful. The amount of water and calories disposed of in a day can give a rough idea of the metabolic rate.

### Source 8 — Politics & Science: Questions and Answers I

Ray Peat · Interview · Feb 20, 2013

> ## Metabolic Rate and Blood Pressure
>
> **John Barkhausen:** Sandy asks: "Is it useful to compare the basal metabolic rate to the daily caloric intake to gauge one's metabolic rate?"
>
> **Ray Peat:** There are many ways you can do it. The more alive you are, the more energy is running through you. From puberty to old age, oxygen consumption decreases by about 70% unless you intervene. This corresponds to the increase in mortality. G.W. Crile and his wife went around the world with basal metabolic apparatus. They found that people in very different cultures—from Eskimos to tropical people—had basal metabolic rates about 30% higher than the average American. He saw a correspondence of brain function to adrenal, liver, and thyroid metabolism. He showed that a crocodile at rest consumed only as much oxygen as a cat at rest, despite weighing hundreds of pounds, and showed their brains were the same size. He believed the brain represented the basal metabolic rate.
>
> **John Barkhausen:** Justin asks about chronically low blood pressure (85/60). Is this a problem?

### Source 9 — Resveratrol, rate of living, CO2, and aging

Ray Peat · Newsletter · Sep 2009

> Within a given species of bird or mammal, the higher rate of metabolism is often associated with a higher body temperature, and a long life span.
>
> But when different types of animal of very different sizes are compared, smaller animals may have a higher rate of metabolism, but a shorter lifespan, than a larger animal, as in the case of mice and elephants. This example was used recently by an endocrinologist, Martin Surks, to argue against treating “subclinical hypothyroidism.” He suggests that hypothyroid people, who have a lower rate of metabolism than euthyroid people, are likely to live longer, because their metabolism is analogous to the slow metabolism of elephants, rather than the fast metabolism of mice.
>
> Comparing animals of different species, such as birds, monkeys, and rodents, of similar sizes, those with the highest metabolic rate are likely to have the longest average and maximum lifespans.
>
> The smaller an organism is, the more easily it loses heat to the environment. Most of a mouse’s metabolic energy is spent simply maintaining its body temperature. Large animals have less surface area in proportion to their mass, so they spend relatively little energy in temperature regulation.
>
> One of the ideas deeply associated with the rate-of-living theory of aging is that our metabolic energy is spent mainly for regulating the concentration of salts and other substances in cells, with a small amount used for secretion, movement, and--a relatively recent admission--for thought.
>
> Gilbert Ling has demonstrated the falsity of the idea that “membrane pumps” regulate the concentrations of dissolved materials, and showed that the amount of energy needed to operate them constantly is much greater than the metabolic capacity of any organism.
>
> The fact that those “membrane-based” energy consuming processes don’t exist leaves a lot of energy to be accounted for. One of the main energy-consuming activities of a cell is just being alive, that is, adapting, sensing, responding, anticipating, orienting itself to its environment. Except in very special circumstances, the substance of a cell is in constant motion, and the molecules are being consumed and reconstructed, in a process of continuous renewal. These intracellular streams of renewal of molecules and organelles are paralleled on the scale of tissues and organs by a process of renewal, in which new cells are born and unnecessary cells are dissolved.
>
> Part of the “rate of living” relates to the rate of renewal of the organism.

### Source 10 — #65: Aspirin | Hysteresis | Antibiotics | Citric Acid | Childhood Metabolism | Endotoxin | Stress with Georgi Dinkov

Georgi Dinkov · Interview · Aug 16, 2021 · https://open.spotify.com/episode/0CagRmNIo4a50y5j0LHPL4

> **Danny Roddy:** Can't believe I can't find this. Whatever. Okay. Was that everything on that one?
>
> **Georgi Dinkov:** I think, you know, the... Children? That was pretty much it. Basically, it's like, yeah, studying 50%, separate species. I think the interesting thing is that basically they're saying that, their study discovered, that the metabolic rate doesn't decline between the age of 20 and 60, which I thought was absurd. There's a huge number of studies demonstrating a decline in the heart rate and temperature between the age of actually after about 24, I think 25 is when you're really young and after that you start declining, right? And they're saying that after the age of 90, humans use about 26% less energy daily. That's also complete BS. Multiple studies demonstrate if you're dieting, And if you're elderly and dieting, your energetic requirements can drop from 2,000 calories daily, I'm using this as an average, to about 700 daily, and you could still be gaining weight if you eat even 100 calories more. So it's definitely not 26% less energy daily at the age of 90. It's more like 60% to 70% less, even if you're healthy.

### Source 11 — Health, Diet and Maximizing Masculinity With Returning Guest Georgi Dinkov | Fireside Chat 190

Georgi Dinkov · Interview · Sep 9, 2021

> **Georgi Dinkov:** You're in a chemically induced, a relatively light form of chemically induced coma, depending on how prolonged or serious the procedure is. surgeries that last for five, six, seven, even longer hours, you're actually in a very severe deep coma and a significant number of the people do not recover from the coma. When they withdraw the drugs and suppress the ATP synthesis, if the person is hypothyroid, basically the brain cells will be suppressed for too long. They can no longer resume their metabolic function and consciousness basically withers away, at least the organism in its physical form. So yeah. But again, basically, it's the metabolic rate that determines life. It is very fundamental level. So if you're constantly feeling cold, if you're shaking, if you're irritable, if you lack motivation, if basically life feels like a burden. there's a very good chance your metabolic rate is lower than optimal. Now, how do we improve it? Well, the first thing is try to remove as many metabolic inhibitors from your food as possible. What does that mean? Well... PUFA is a huge metabolic burden, and so are the phyto-slash-xeno-slash-synthetic estrogens. Now, for all of your female listeners who are on the birth control pill, I would strongly advise going to the doctor, grabbing the doctor by the neck and saying, I want to know if the pill that I'm on contains estrogen. If it does... I want to be put on a pill that contains no estrogens whatsoever. Now that, unfortunately, used to be that back in the day, the doctor will put you on bioidentical progesterone if you don't want to be taking the estrogenic ones. But now they've synthesized a myriad of synthetic progestins, which they tell you are just like progesterone, but only better. Nothing can be further away from the truth. Most of these synthetic progesterones are estrogenic themselves. But guess what? Progesterone, bioidentical progesterone, is still approved as a contraceptive in the United States.

### Source 12 — The Peat Whisperer

Danny Roddy · Book · 2012

> **Danny Roddy:** Those with suppressed metabolic rates usually have low pulse rates (50-70 beats per minute), may or may not be intolerant to cold (cold hands, cold feet, cold nose), and can exhibit a host of other maladies (constipation, diarrhea, anxiety, depression, poor sleep, lack of libido, skin problems, etc.). The greatest factor in our cell’s ability to produce energy is how we interact with the environment, but more specifically by the food we consume. While there is no “perfect diet” or “perfect food,” there are foods that promote and hinder our inherent ability to produce energy. Solving the problem of a suppressed metabolic rate involves supporting our cell’s ability to produce energy efficiently, similar to that of a young child.

_Generated 2026-07-20 from the Bioenergetic Oracle corpus._