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Lifestyle changes to control weight loss are effective in reducing obesity regardless of age, found a new study from the University of Warwick in England, dispelling myths about the effectiveness of weight loss in women. old people.
Lead author Dr. Thomas Barber of Warwick School of Medicine discussed the implications Sunday morning.
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“We did a retrospective study among the patients attending our obesity service at a hospital in Coventry in the UK, we divided the groups into two, according to age. The first group was those under 60 years of age and the second group were those under the age of 60. age 60 y and we were interested in weight loss success in these two different groups based on lifestyle interventions.
“They all saw dietitians, they had dietary information and support, some had some psychology and a lot of them also had medical information. And what we found was that there was really no difference in weight loss success between these two groups based on the age. So the take-home message … is that when it comes to weight loss success through lifestyle intervention in a hospital setting, age does not play a role, certainly among ages 60 and 78, it really doesn’t seem to have any effect.
“We need to recognize that we live in a discriminatory society and instead of neglecting attempts to lose weight in the older population, we should accept this and promote it rather than repress ourselves.”
Dr. Thomas Barber
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Barber says that broader social attitudes fuel complacency and defeatist attitudes of individuals.
“And perhaps health professionals are more reluctant to refer older patients for weight interventions when there is really no justification for that. If anything, we should promote weight loss attempts and the provision of interventions in the population. older, instead of holding back. “
Losing weight is well worth the effort, with more than 50 diseases and conditions that can be comorbid or accompanied by obesity, including mental health problems and an increased risk of premature death.
“As we get older we are more likely to develop those 50 comorbidities, you can think of weight gain and obesity as an accelerated form of aging, when you put obesity in the equation that really accelerates that process.”
Barber says there are many lifestyle aspects that affect weight, not just diet.
“People don’t appreciate that how much we sleep is a massive factor, if we are sleep deprived then it is incredibly difficult to lose weight. Experts tell us that we should all get about 7.5 hours of sleep a night.
“And clearly a healthy diet; not restricting what we eat so much, but eating healthy foods. So we should all optimize the fiber that we have in our diet. There are studies that show that in the West we are depleted in fiber, everyone should consume about 50 percent more fiber than we consume, and by optimizing our fiber intake, we can nurture healthy gut flora, the bacteria that live in our gut.
“And when we say exercise, what it really means is avoiding a sedentary lifestyle and maintaining physical activity, it’s very, very important.”
Defeatist attitudes against aging are out of place in a society where we live longer than we used to, he says.
“When we look at the type of conditions that we manage in our modern healthcare, it’s chronic conditions, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory conditions, that are the main part. And the longer we live, the older we get, the older. we are likely to develop those conditions.
“There is a great emphasis now on healthy aging; that is maintaining well-being and well-being in old age. And it is particularly important that as we age, we aim to achieve this.
“There are other published studies looking at the older population in other settings, which have also shown, according to our own data, that being older is not really a barrier to weight loss. Even better to adhere to a fitness style program. life and achieve successful weight loss compared to their younger counterparts. “
