[Effect of diet therapy on several metabolic disorders in obese patients of different ages]

Data derived from a comparative study of some lipids and water metabolism rates in patients suffering mainly from metabolic-alimentary form of adiposity in 2 age groups (from 16 to 25 and from 35 years and upwards, respectively) are offered. In patients of both groups substantial changes in the lipid fractions of the blood were noted. The proportions of glycerides, beta-lipoproteins and free fatty acids in the blood were markedly increased. At the same time, all the patients, irrespective of their age, demonstrated a fall of the glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase activity of the fatty tissue along with a reduced diurnal excretion of catecholamines with DOPA. There were in evidence characteristic disorders of the water metabolism that found their expression in an increased overall amount of water and also in a higher content of extra- and intracellular fluid. A low-calories diet used in conjunction with graded therapeutic exercises helped achieve a positive dynamics in the reduction of the patients' body weight along with a tendency toward normalization of the study metabolic rates in both of these age groups.