Pendergast, D R, Fisher, N M, Meksawan, K et al. · Journal of inherited metabolic disease · 2004 · DOI
This study looked at how white blood cells use fat for energy in different groups of people, including those with ME/CFS. Researchers measured fat burning in blood cells from healthy controls, people with ME/CFS, people with other conditions, and athletes. They found that people with ME/CFS had unusually high fat oxidation in their white blood cells, while people with a genetic disorder (CPT II deficiency) had very low fat oxidation.
This study provides a potential biological marker—abnormally high white blood cell fat oxidation—that distinguishes ME/CFS patients from healthy controls and other disease groups. Understanding metabolic abnormalities in ME/CFS may help explain energy metabolism dysfunction and could eventually support diagnosis or guide treatment approaches targeting cellular energy production.
This study does not prove that elevated fat oxidation causes ME/CFS or is responsible for ME/CFS symptoms; it only identifies an association. The very small ME/CFS sample size (n=6) limits generalizability. The study also does not establish whether this marker is specific to ME/CFS or whether it correlates with symptom severity, exercise capacity, or post-exertional malaise.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Pendergast, D R, Fisher, N M, Meksawan, K, Doubrava, M, & Vladutiu, G D (2004). The distribution of white blood cell fat oxidation in health and disease.. Journal of inherited metabolic disease. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BOLI.0000016637.43041.a3
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-pendergast-2004-distribution-white,
author = {Pendergast, D R and Fisher, N M and Meksawan, K and Doubrava, M and Vladutiu, G D},
title = {The distribution of white blood cell fat oxidation in health and disease.},
journal = {Journal of inherited metabolic disease},
year = {2004},
doi = {10.1023/B:BOLI.0000016637.43041.a3},
note = {PubMed: 14970749},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/pendergast-2004-distribution-white},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/pendergast-2004-distribution-white
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