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Obesity, sarcopenia and their functional consequences in old age
1Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. marjolein.visser@falw.vu.nl
The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
|November 25, 2010
Summary
Obesity negatively impacts older adults
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Obesity Research
- Functional Decline Studies
Background:
- Obesity prevalence is increasing in older adults.
- Obesity negatively affects functional status in aging populations.
- Potential pathways link obesity to functional decline.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the impact of obesity on functional status in older persons.
- To investigate the roles of sarcopenia and dynapenia in age-related functional decline.
- To explore the combined effect of obesity and dynapenia on functional status.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of observational and intervention studies on obesity and aging.
- Review of research on sarcopenia (age-related muscle mass loss) and dynapenia (age-related muscle strength loss).
- Examination of studies on dynapenic-obesity and its association with functional status.
Main Results:
- Poor muscle strength (dynapenia) is strongly linked to functional decline in older adults.
- Muscle mass (sarcopenia) shows a weaker association with functional decline.
- Dynapenic-obesity appears to have an additive negative effect on functional status, independent of physical activity.
Conclusions:
- Obesity poses a significant risk to functional status in older age.
- Dynapenia is a more critical factor than sarcopenia in age-related functional decline.
- Dynapenic-obesity presents a combined risk for poor functional status in the elderly.
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