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Middle age is not that bad for metabolism, reveals new in-depth study

WION Web Team
NEW DELHIUpdated: Aug 13, 2021, 07:42 PM IST
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Representative image Photograph:(AFP)

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The study included people from eight days old up to age 95, in 29 countries. It suggests that metabolism remains "rock solid" throughout mid-life

A new study, of about 6,400 people, has revealed that middle-aged spread cannot be blamed on a waning metabolism.

The study included people from eight days old up to age 95, in 29 countries. It suggests that metabolism remains "rock solid" throughout mid-life. 

As per the researchers, the findings gave surprising new insights about the body.

The researchers tweaked their measurements, adjusting for body size, to compare people's metabolism "pound for pound". The study revealed four phases of metabolic life. First involved, birth to age one, when the metabolism shifts from being the same as the mother's to a lifetime high 50 per cent above that of adults.

This is followed by a gentle slowdown until the age of 20, with no spike during all the changes of puberty. 

The third phase involved no change at all between the ages of 20 and 60. The last phase was a permanent decline, with yearly falls that, by 90, leave metabolism 26 per cent lower than in mid-life.

Prof John Speakman, from the University of Aberdeen, was quoted by BBC as saying, "It is a picture we've never really seen before and there is a lot of surprises in it". 

He further added, "The most surprising thing for me is there is no change throughout adulthood - if you are experiencing mid-life spread you can no longer blame it on a declining metabolic rate".