Intentional weight loss in old age not detrimental, study finds
Among obese group, those who willfully shed pounds saw benefits
By Nathan Seppa
Losing weight on purpose in old age may provide a survival edge, at least for obese people, a new analysis shows.
Writing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, researchers tackled a long-held assumption that weight loss in old age is uniformly unhealthy. The idea stems from overpowering data linking rapid, unintentional weight loss in the elderly to a hidden underlying problem, such as the onset of type 2 diabetes.
“The loss of weight over six months without a specific cause is a very bad prognostic sign,” says study coauthor Stephen Kritchevsky, an epidemiologist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.
That has ingrained the notion among doctors that any weight loss in the elderly is risky, he says. “I’ve been at meetings on nutrition in the elderly, and there have been reputable geriatricians who have said in public that if you ask an older person to lose weight you’re committing malpractice,” he says.