It has been recognized that oxygen consumption (Vo₂) remains elevated for several hours following a certain exercise, and such prolonged excess Vo₂ has been recently called "excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC)". The magnitude of EPOC may have important implications for individuals, especially for women, who are employing physical exercise as part of a weight control and health promotion and usually who are restricting the dietary energy intake simultaneously. The EPOC studies involving female subjects, however, are very limited. Therefore, our purposes were I: to examine whether the sedentary Japanese young women also show the significant EPOC, and 2: to evaluate the effect of dietary restriction on EPOC in women in the same phase of the menstrual cycle. Six young women partfcipated in the study for the purpose 1. They cycled 60-min bicycle ergometer exercise at the work rate corresponding approximately to 70 % of Vo₂ max during their luteal phase. The exercise was performed in the morning and Vo₂ was measured every 1 hour for 7 hours after the exercise including the prior-exercise. As a control trial, Vo₂ was also measured according to the same time schedule without exercise. The significant elevated Vol was found until 4 hours after the exercise, and the total amount of EPOC was approximately 4〜5 l on the average. Four young women participated in the study for the purpose 2. They performed essentially the same experimental design as study 1 under the different menstrual cycle (i.e., luteal and follicular phases) and dietary restriction status (i.e., standard and restricted diet conditions). The diet was precisely controled for 2 days from the previous day of the experiment, and the standard diet was 1600 kcal/day, and restricted one was just half of the standard (i.e., 800 kcal/day). As a result of the two-way ANOVA, the EPOC was significantly affected by the dietary factor only, that is, the dietary restriction decreased the amount of EPOC compared with that in the standard dietary condition.
　These data suggest that, while sedentary Japanese young women have a significant EPOC sustaining the following several hours after the intense and relatively long-term (1 hour) exercise, the EPOC is significantly lowered even by the acute dietary restriction.

DESCENTE SPORTS SCIENCE Vol.18/THE DESCENTE AND ISHIMOTO MEMORIAL FOUNDATION FOR THE PROMOTION SPORTS SCIENCE