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posted by janrinok on Tuesday September 10 2019, @12:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-been-weighing-on-my-mind dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Why people gain weight as they get older

The scientists studied the fat cells in 54 men and women over an average period of 13 years. In that time, all subjects, regardless of whether they gained or lost weight, showed decreases in lipid turnover in the fat tissue, that is the rate at which lipid (or fat) in the fat cells is removed and stored. Those who didn't compensate for that by eating less calories gained weight by an average of 20 percent, according to the study which was done in collaboration with researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden and University of Lyon in France.

The researchers also examined lipid turnover in 41 women who underwent bariatric surgery and how the lipid turnover rate affected their ability to keep the weight off four to seven years after surgery. The result showed that only those who had a low rate before the surgery managed to increase their lipid turnover and maintain their weight loss. The researchers believe these people may have had more room to increase their lipid turnover than those who already had a high-level pre-surgery.

"The results indicate for the first time that processes in our fat tissue regulate changes in body weight during ageing in a way that is independent of other factors," says Peter Arner, professor at the Department of Medicine in Huddinge at Karolinska Institutet and one of the study's main authors. "This could open up new ways to treat obesity."

Prior studies have shown that one way to speed up the lipid turnover in the fat tissue is to exercise more. This new research supports that notion and further indicates that the long-term result of weight-loss surgery would improve if combined with increased physical activity.

"Obesity and obesity-related diseases have become a global problem," says Kirsty Spalding, senior researcher at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Karolinska Institutet and another of the study's main authors. "Understanding lipid dynamics and what regulates the size of the fat mass in humans has never been more relevant."

P. Arner, et.al. Adipose lipid turnover and long-term changes in body weight. Nature Medicine, 2019; 25 (9): 1385 DOI: 10.1038/s41591-019-0565-5


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @06:30PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @06:30PM (#892296)

    Hate to break it to ya but within THIRTY POUNDS of your weight in your mid-20's makes you OBESE

    Not necessarily. 30lb is about 13.6kg. If I was 180cm and weighed 70kg, then my BMI was 21.6. Perfect. Now I gained 13.6kg, so now my weight is 83.6. My BMI becomes 25.8. Barely in overweight category. 180cm is 5' 11" for those still stuck in weird units.

    To be obese, you need to have BMI of at least 30, which would be 97kg or a weight gain of 27kg (almost 60lb!). That's almost 40% weight gain. Now you see how fat you have to be to actually qualify as OBESE, and not just overweight? Of course, if you started overweight in your 20s and gained that weight, you may as well be obese now.

    Anyway, this is BMI, which is statistics only not for individuals. But we don't really have much better generic tools for that anyway.

  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday September 10 2019, @09:15PM (1 child)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday September 10 2019, @09:15PM (#892382)

    BMI is not a great tool, but you may be right about us not really having anything better, I wouldn't know.

    I do remember, however this guy, [wikipedia.org] at the peak of his professional sports career being most surprised to find out he was obese.

    Maybe there is a way of adjusting the numbers to account for athletic Pacific Island body types?