Does your metabolism change with age? Let’s start with a fact: for everyone (or almost everyone) there comes a moment in life when you realize that you gain weight more easily. Often the first thing we think is that it is due to our body’s lower ability to burn the calories consumed with food as the years go by. In fact, there are several in the literature Education who investigated how metabolism changes with age. Every 10 years, for example, an adult’s basal metabolic rate (BMR) has been shown to decrease by 1-2% due to the loss of skeletal muscle, thus decreasing energy needs and promoting overweight and obesity. «There are many other factors, however, that could come into play and work in favor of a lower efficiency of metabolic processes comments the nutritionist Simona Melonito whom we asked some questions to clarify how metabolism changes with age.

What is metabolism?

«Metabolism is the set of anabolic and catabolic chemical reactions that occur within our organism explains nutritionist Simona Meloni. «The former exploit smaller reagents to create larger molecules, for example the synthesis of proteins starting from amino acids; catabolic ones, on the contrary, break down large molecules to obtain smaller ones or free individual components such as the breaking of long glycogen molecules to obtain glucose” says the expert. «The presence of all these reactions has the objective of maintaining homeostasis, i.e. the balance of our body’s functions. Metabolism is also our ability to produce energy from the nutrients present in the foods we eat daily and possibly store it. Some people are born with a less efficient metabolism in which the ability to conserve the energy produced by these chemical reactions is very high and for this reason they have a greater ability to gain weight easily. On the contrary, people whose metabolism has a more efficient activity tend to dissipate too much energy and therefore waste it while managing to maintain a healthy weight more easily.”

Because the metabolism slows down

There are several factors that can favor a lower efficiency of the metabolism, starting from the type of diet you follow. «The lack of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals at the table can lead to metabolic imbalances with consequences on the functionality of our organs and on health in general says nutritionist Simona Meloni. «A low-calorie diet continued for too long and associated with a sedentary lifestyle leads the body to adapt to a state of energy conservation, lowering the basal metabolism. But there’s another factor that’s often brought up when talking about a slowing metabolism: age. As the years go by metabolism changes primarily due to hormonal changes. «The excessive or reduced production of a hormone can modify the metabolic structure. However, hormones change not only based on age, but also based on unfavorable conditions such as sleep deprivation and thecellular aging, which leads to a slowdown of all reactions because they are no longer necessary for growth. Furthermore, with age the assimilation of nutrients is reduced with a greater risk of suffering from deficiencies of some nutrients useful for metabolic reactions. The greater production of free radicals that normally occurs within our body and increases with age can also be another factor that can worsen the metabolism. The presence of chronic inflammation can equally be a further factor that works against its correct functioning.”

When metabolism changes for women and men

Another factor that influences metabolism is gender. Women, by nature, have a lower amount of muscle mass and lean mass and more fat mass than men, therefore a less efficient basal metabolism. «In women a crucial moment is the arrival of menopause. Around the age of 50, the collapse of the hormones progesterone and estrogen leads to a much faster change than in men who already in premenopause leads to a change in the accumulation of fats and physical conformation with an accumulation affecting the upper part of the body, therefore abdomen, back, arms” says the expert. «In men, the arrival of andropause and the sudden drop in testosterone causes a greater ease in accumulating fat in adipose tissue, especially visceral fat, but the change is much slower and more progressive and occurs around the age of 70.

Effective remedies for metabolism

«To maintain an active metabolism even with age, it is essential that the diet is rich in fruit and vegetables, which contain nutrients that can contribute to its correct functioning. The diet must also be balanced: the deficiency or excess of macronutrients, for example diets that are too rigid and continue for too long in which an important category such as carbohydrates is eliminated, can negatively influence metabolic processes. And, again, we need to maintain an active lifestyle and carve out spaces for relaxation.”