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Numerous studies have shown that weight loss is associated
with increased mortality in older males. In some of these
studies, men appear to be slightly more vulnerable to this
negative effect than do women. Reversal of weight loss in
a nursing home setting leads to decreased mortality. Weight
loss also increases the likelihood of an older person being
institutionalized. The negative effects of weight loss are
still present in males with a BMI greater than 29. A recent
study showed that weight loss in men, even when voluntary,
leads to an increased incidence of hip bone loss and others
have shown that weight loss is associated with hip fracture
in women. This, and other, studies raise the question of why
weight
loss may have deleterious effects in older persons.
Two obvious effects that are by themselves inadequate to explain
the large deleterious effect of weight loss, are that weight
loss is a harbinger of occult disease such as cancer and that
weight loss produces protein energy malnutrition. Protein
energy undernutrition is associated with a number of negative
effects including pressure ulcers, immune dysfunction, increased
infections, hip fracture, cognitive abnormalities, anemia,
muscle weakness, fatigue, edema and death. In particular,
protein energy malnutrition leads to a marked decrease in
cells in older persons that is associated with an increase
in unusual and difficult-to-treat infections.
Fat is an important organ for storage of calories. It has
been shown that many older persons, when admitted to hospital,
receive inadequate calories to survive, making fat as a source
of calories vital for survival. Fat is important for the maintenance
of thermoregulation, which is often disturbed in older persons.
Fat plays a key role in organ protection. Fat is particularly
important for protection of the hip in older persons who may
be prone to fall.
When starvation occurs, death is related to the complete loss
of fat, not of muscle. In persons of healthy weight, starvation
results in death in approximately 60 days; there is complete
loss of fat, but only one- third loss of lean tissue. Obese
persons can lose much greater amounts of weight than their
thin counterparts; for example, in one case a person lost
207 kg in 382 days - 60% of body weight.
Finally, it has recently been shown that anorexia independently
predicts mortality. Anorexia of aging is commonly seen in
older persons. Depression is the most common cause of anorexia
in older men. For this reason, we developed and validated
a simple screening questionnaire for detecting anorexia in
older persons. This questionnaire is highly predictive of
significant weight loss in 6 months.
It would appear that there are numerous reasons why weight
loss is bad for older men. Thus, in our older population,
weight stability rather than weight loss needs to be our goal.
If weight loss is deemed necessary, there are so many ways
like weight
loss diet pills(phentermine, adipex,
acomplia etc), diet plans, physical Exercise to maintain muscle
mass & weight., Diet pills with proper diet & exercise
might be a result oriented way for lose fat fast or maintain
your weight.
Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/722961
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