With age comes wisdom…and weight?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
In high school, you can inhale Twinkies and stay beanpole thin, but that changes with time. Oh, the beer bellies! The love handles! WHYYYYY??!!
Peter Arner from Karolinska Institute says it could all be in your cells.
His research team monitored fat cells in over fifty people for up to thirteen years. Specifically, they measured the lipid, or fat, turnover rate. This is how fast the lipid portion in fat cells gets removed or stored.
Results? All the participants’ lipid turnover rate SLOWED DOWN as they aged. That means more fat gets stored than broken down.
And folks who continued eating as much as their younger self? They gained about TWENTY PERCENT more weight over thirteen years. That’s because their cells can’t remove fat as fast as they once could.
Arner’s team suggests that regular exercise combined with eating in moderation can keep the weight gain at bay.
So less beer, more walking…and maybe just ONE little Twinkie…..?