Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

New research on the effects of ageing on body fat suggest that there are a number of components of ageing which mean that gaining fat stores with age is a ‘natural’ process and that losing fat becomes more difficult. Changes with age that promote fat gain are:

• a decrease in lean body mass: and therefore a reduction in metabolic rate. This may be compensated for by such activities as resistance training, although the extent to which this can occur is not dear at this stage. Metabolic rate is thought to decrease naturally by about 2 per cent per decade after the age of 20.

• changes in fat oxidation. The rate at which the body bums fat as an energy source in contrast to blood sugars, decreases with age, possibly as a result of the increase in body fat mass. This means fat is stored more readily and used less easily as a fuel source in the elderly.

changes in the influences of stimuli which ‘break down’ fat (lipolytic stimuli). Hormones such as growth hormone and testosterone all decrease with age and catecholamines from the adrenal glands appear less effective with age. Hence, the normal status of older people promotes fat gain

• decreases in spontaneous physical activity (SPA). As well as a decrease in physical activity (through sport and games) it now appears that even if older people consciously exercise vigorously to lose fat, they may unconsciously decrease their rate of physical activity at other times during the day: they simply get more tired than young people as a result of exercise, and unless an effort is made to maintain SPA, the net effect may be no real gain in overall physical activity.

• increased associated health conditions: heart disease, arthritis and other muscular-skeletal problems.

• a decrease in intra-muscular fat as an energy source. There are significant stores of fat in muscle tissue. The storage of fat in the muscle tissue decreases with age as the binding protein decreases. This means fat from the muscle is less readily available as an energy source during exercise and a greater reliance is placed on other energy stores.

• increased eating. Although this is often under-reported, there is evidence to suggest that eating and drinking may actually increase with age, rather than decrease or remain stable, as would be necessary to stabilise body fat. Accurate monitoring of food intake in the elderly will be necessary before this can be verified.

On the positive side, it appears that moderate fat gains with ageing do not appear to be as dangerous as those in the young and a BM up to 27kg/m2 is considered within the normal range for older people. However, this point is still hotly debated and in the meantime caution is still advised.

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When dealing with the area of managing body fat levels we must have a basic understanding of how energy is balanced in the body. We consume on average anywhere from 1500kcal-2500kcal per day. This adds up to an energy intake of about 555 000-1 million kcal (2.33-4.17 kj) per year. But what about expenditure? How does the body balance energy intake with expenditure? Why can some individuals seemingly consume relatively greater quantities of food than others, and at the same time end up with lower stores of body fat? Dr Klaas Westerterp and his group from the University of Limberg in the Netherlands, have estimated that over the course of a lifetime, there is an actual discrepancy between energy intake and energy expenditure of only around 1 per cent, making the system an extremely well balanced one.2 What this implies, of course, is that body weight is not just equal to the amount of energy intake minus energy expenditure, but that energy intake + expenditure must change, as a function of a number of factors, to help balance the system. To understand this, we need to understand the components of energy expenditure. There are three main components of energy expenditure.

1. Resting metabolic rate (RMR) or basal metabolic rate (BMR), which equals sleeping metabolic rate (SMR) and arousal.

2. The thermogenic effect of food.

3. Exercise, or daily physical activity and spontaneous physical activity (SPA).

The vast majority (i.e. around 70 per cent) of daily energy expenditure (EE) in the average person is accounted for by RMR. Thermogenesis contributes about 15 per cent and daily physical activity is the most variable being around 10-25 per cent in sedentary individuals.

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Ask Lisa Gardiner about her favorite weight-loss weapon, and she’s likely to show you her toothbrush. After all, it helped her take off 25 pounds in just 6 months.

After two pregnancies, Lisa, of Ballston Spa, New York, was eager to slim down. But caring for her newborn twin daughters and 3-year-old son didn’t leave her much time to plan nutritious meals or stick with an exercise routine.

Lisa believed that if she could just control her after-dinner noshing, she’d take a significant bite out of her fat and calorie intake. So she fell back on a little trick that she had used to lose 20 pounds in college.

Instead of heading to the kitchen right after dinner, Lisa would head to the bathroom and brush her teeth. “It was my signal that my time to eat was over for the day” she says. “If I felt the urge to snack, I just reminded myself that I had already brushed my teeth.”

This simple strategy helped Lisa, age 35, slim down for the second—and, she’s determined—last time in her life.

WINNING ACTION

Try the toothbrush trick. After dinner, brush your teeth. This simple task sends a message to your brain that you’re done eating for the day. What’s more, the toothpaste alters the flavor of food. If you were to eat something after brushing, it wouldn’t taste very good. What’s more, your teeth and your smile will thank you!

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