Does the choice of a diet for the obese senior make sense?
As you get older, nothing really happens the way it used to. This is obvious when it comes to lack of physical activity, speed of execution, mental failure. In terms of health and weight, this is all the more true.
BMI: A qualitative index for overweight seniors?
Age is not taken into account in the calculation of BMI (1) . From now on, this notion will be better analyzed. Scientists (2) are looking into the relationship between extra pounds and the weight of years in order to consider seniors from a human point of view rather than according to the recognized index.
Caryl Nowson of Deakin University in Australia is studying the relationship between Body Mass Index rate and mortality in the over-65s. For these scientists, the general nutritional recommendations of the World Health Organization would be unsuitable for seniors . The results of the experiment were published in the journal “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition”. They show that after the age of 65, people with a BMI between 23 and 33 have a longer life expectancy . Thus the weight, which is considered ideal, is not a correct standard for seniors. Below the index of 23 patients have a higher risk of mortality.
For Professor Nowson, instead of focusing on weight loss, seniors should strive to maintain their health with an appropriate balanced diet and physical activity .
Should seniors follow a diet after 75?
The clinical center of the city of Toulouse, promoted by its University Hospital (3) , is coordinating an experiment which could make it possible to affirm that a person who combines overweight and advanced age should not follow a diet.
For this, Professor Langin’s INSERM team is calling for volunteers to start the “Mona” protocol. The person in charge of the study, Doctor Claire Thalamas, recruits with her team, sixteen old men and sixteen young men all having in common a BMI between 30 and 40 in order to establish a scientific comparison.
By June, the “Mona” project will be set up. It consists in evaluating the effects of a diet, from the metabolic point of view, in men aged between 60 and 70 years in comparison with men whose age is between 30 and 40 years.
Scientists already know that the metabolic profile of overweight seniors, mainly over 75, improves with fewer kilocalories. But, at this point, does choosing a diet really make sense?
Four points will be examined to try to answer this question: the follow-up of a dietary survey, an assessment of energy needs, an analysis of adipose tissue and an insulin sensitivity test. The volunteers will follow an action plan allowing them to lose between 6 and 8 kg then, medical studies will be carried out in order to validate or invalidate the possibility of a diet in later life. The results of this experiment will be released in 2016.
These two studies will be used to raise awareness among overweight elderly people in order to relieve them of guilt about their weight. The family will also be concerned because prejudices are so strong that they even invade common sense. There is no point in closing the ears of obese seniors because beyond the age of 65, any change could prove detrimental to their state of health.
Apart from any serious pathology, that they continue their life in the least stressful way, remains the best of the alternatives.
Stephen Paul is the lead author and founder of My Health Sponsor. Holder of a diploma in health and well-being coaching with more than 200 articles in the field of health, he makes it a point of honor to offer advice based on reliable information, based on scientific research, and verified by health professionals.