Why Do Older People Find it More Difficult to Lose Weight

Older people find it more difficult to get rid of unwanted weight and a recent study finds out why this is actually the case.

Scientists involved in the study claim that the difficulty of losing weight as one ages may lie with one of the two types of fat in the body that typically becomes 'less active with age'. White fat for instance sits under the skin of the stomach and thighs and is the result of eating too much. On the other hand, there is also the brown fat, the fat responsible for generating heat. As a result, brown fat helps by boosting the metabolism, making it possible to use up the 'bad' white fat.

Japanese researchers have discovered that as people age, their thermogenic activity - or heat production - in their brown fat decreases considerably. This means it becomes less active and therefore burns less 'bad' white fat. "A common complaint is that older people have to work twice as hard with their diets and exercise to get half of the results of younger people," said Dr. Gerald Weissmann, Editor-in-Chief of the FASEB Journal which published the study.

"Now we have a much better idea why this is the case - our brown fat stops working as we age. Unfortunately, until a way to turn it back is developed, we'll have to be prepared to eat more salads and lean proteins, while logging more miles on the treadmill than our younger counterparts." Researchers from the University of Shizuoka found a possible metabolic switch that could reactivate brown fat. This could possibly pave the way for the development of new treatments for obesity-related conditions and certain types of cancers.