Battle of The Bulge, Middle-Age Spread: Scientists Discover The Real Reason For It

[appalachiablue]

The Telegraph/Yahoo News, Aug. 12, 2021. - Ed.

Piling on the pounds in middle age is an affliction familiar to many, but the common excuse of a slowing metabolism is no longer a valid excuse, according to a new study. Instead, the dreaded middle-age spread is likely down to lifestyle factors such as exercise and diet.

An international team of researchers, led by Duke University in North Carolina, analysed the speed of a person’s metabolism throughout their life. Data show that when a baby is born, they use the same amount of energy as adults when accounting for the difference in body size and mass. However, their metabolism almost instantly goes into hyperdrive, becoming 50% faster by the time they are one year old.

“Something is happening inside a baby’s cells to make them more active, and we don’t know what those processes are yet,” said Herman Pontzer, co-author of the study and associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke Univ. This intense pace continues until a child is two, but it then slows by about 3% a year.

The gradual fall continues until adulthood and stabilises around 20 years old. This finding surprised scientists as it flies in the face of common wisdom, which states that a person’s metabolism speeds up during adolescence. - Myth of the metabolic go-slow debunked: However, it was not the only unexpected result of the landmark study as it also revealed metabolism remains steady between 20 and 60 years old...

More,
https://news.yahoo.com/battle-bulge-scientists-discover-real-165522680.html

[FoxNewsSucks]

1. That is very believable.

Look at films and pictures from the 60's and earlier. Most people in them would be considered "scrawny" now.

Back then, our food was far more "fresh" and local instead of processed and mass-produced.

[appalachiablue]

3. Both women and men were slim then, they'd

flip if they saw what 'food' we eat, when we eat- around the clock snacks vs. meals and 8" dinner plates- and how huge we are now.

Decades of lousy processed food filled with chemicals, sugar, salt and additives, all day snack junk and jumbo platter-size 'meals.'

Nobody got that big until maybe into their 60s, 70s, or if earlier they caught hell for it.

[multigraincracker]

5. Back then one had to get up

and move to change the channel.

You have to keep moving.

[appalachiablue]

6. The TV remote beginning, and MOVE- for real

[FoxNewsSucks]

8. That's true.

the point in that article about daily activity should be emphasized more.

[Kittycatkat]

9. Kids did anyway. My dad would call me, I'd come downstairs from my room,

and he'd ask/tell me to change the channel. sometimes I'd have to stand there and hold the antenna too. lol. The good ol' days.

[UpInArms]

7. Chicago 1975

[appalachiablue]

10. The way it was, slim, young, active. None to few heavies

[Lord Ludd]

20. Here's Atlantic City in the 19 oughts

Compared to the present, people were beanpoles back then.

[Skittles]

11. I live on processed foods and I have never been overweight

the difference is I move.....a LOT....about 17,000 steps a day which I don't even count as exercise

[multigraincracker]

12. Sounds like the Amish diet.

4,000 calories a day of high fat food and work all day.

I'm lucky to do 10,000 a day, but I try to eat to live and not live to eat.

[Skittles]

14. I get 10,000 just looking for my keys, shoes, the remote, a pen, etc

[multigraincracker]

17. Isn't that about 5 miles?

[Goonch]

2. ;-{)

[appalachiablue]

4. ++

[Throck]

13. Drive through donut shops.

And TV remotes.

[marybourg]

19. Garage door openers.

[Throck]

25. Ha

My wife always makes me get out.

[Lord Ludd]

15. Average weights for American men & women as of 2015-16

Men: 197.9 lbs
Women: 170.6 lbs

H O L Y S * * T!

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/20/health/us-average-height-weight-report/index.html

[appalachiablue]

16. That's real bad news, incredible. Obesity Nation

[multigraincracker]

18. I'm right at that, but my

BMI is healthy for a 6' 3" male. My ideal weight 180. I still have some muscle too. I'd like to get a water displacement measure.

[Ford_Prefect]

21. There is much more corn syrup in more foods than the 60's.

The Corn Syrup industry recently and successfully undermined the acceptance of scientific work showing the effects of corn syrup on human digestion and nutrient processing leading to obesity, heart disease and other maladies. This amounts to the same coordinated corporate denial of a major problem as Big Tobacco denying cancer from smoking or Big Oil denying climate change.

Bottles were mostly glass (and widely reused). BPA and BPS added plastic bottles full of water, soda and sports drinks were not a thing. Now they threaten to choke landfills, the oceans and our bloodstreams. Which is not to mention the effect on climate moving that much water has had.

Soy derivatives were not found so widely as human food additives either.

McDonald's and the other chains had not shaped our diets to the degree they do now. We more often ate at home too.

And yes, we all walked much more than we do now. I know because I was there at the time.

[Nay]

22. I was born in the 1950's; I have all my class photos from school. In elementary school,

there were simply no fat kids in my classes. I remember one nice girl who was slightly overweight (no one would consider her overweight today) who was mad at herself for being "fat."

I remember a few older men on the beach who had beer bellies, but those enormous people you see on the beach today? Never. I can't think of one large adult like that in all the homes in our neighborhood. It just didn't happen.

It's the crappy food we have all grown up with, plus all the plastics, additives, pollution, etc. Now I know people who 'can't' eat fresh vegetables or even most fruits because they taste 'funny.' I know people who snack all day on junk. When I was a kid, all the kids would bike down to the local five-and-dime and buy candy, but it was never enough candy to make us fat.

[appalachiablue]

24. I know, it's all true, the way things were then.

[appalachiablue]

23. The changes you mention have profound negative

effects in the US and it's spread to the UK, China, and other places. The huge increase in detrimental chemicals and additives like corn syrup (mostly GMO) which replaced a lot of white cane sugar, and soy, and eating out at fast food places like McDonalds.

Sitting in front of a computer most of the day has been another change for the worse. I watched a news report about Chinese parents who were so worried about their children's rising obesity and sedentary habits from sitting at a computer 12 hrs. a day that they sent them to strict health camps in the summer to counter unhealthy behavior.

My parents and the generations before me, if they had lunch it was a small sandwich, or a very light meal. Snacking between meals was strictly verboten. Salty chips, fries, or big, sloppy subs didn't exist. For them there was much more walking, physical activity and exercise in general. We're on a very dangerous path with this unhealthy lifestyle if we don't change it.

[yellowcanine]

26. Jim Gaffigan is very funny on this topic.

He totally owns his bad eating habits.

[marie999]

27. My husband and I, both in our 70s, know it is lack of exercise and poor food choices.

In December of last year, both my 5'8" husband was 215 pounds, and I 5'7" was 208 pounds. We went on a high protein low carb diet and bought an elliptical machine. In May, my husband weighed 164, and I weighed 152. We relaxed our diet but still eat healthily and continue to exercise. We find that we can maintain our weight without any problem.