How aging affects glucose metabolism. Pay attention to avoid developing diabetes.
Age is one of the factors that affects the functioning of metabolism , processesor by which energy is obtained or produced through food .
Food provides glucose that is absorbed by the body to be used as a source of energy for the body’s cells.
From the age of 40 , insulin production (the hormone responsible for glucose metabolism ) decreases; tissues also respond less to the action of this substance produced by the pancreas .
This leads to the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in older adults, which occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or does not produce enough of this hormone, according to the Pan American Health Organization .
Learn in detail the relationship between glucose metabolism and the aging process .
How age affects metabolism
We all know that with age the body undergoes physiological changes, and one of them is the slowing down of the metabolism , reaching its lowest point after age 60 .
After age 20 , metabolism remains stable until age 60 , when it begins to decline at a rate of 0.7% each year indefinitely.
A study has investigated the impact of aging on physiology and the natural slowing of metabolism .
He concluded that with age there are “changes in the regulation of caloric intake that contribute to an increase in susceptibility to both positive and negative energy imbalance , which is associated with a deterioration in health . ”
Along the same lines, another study by Dr. Gitanjali Srivastava , medical director of Obesity Medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, explains that a slow metabolism causes loss of muscle mass and an increase in body fat , especially in the waist area .
This translates into lower caloric expenditure , which leads to greater difficulty in losing weight .
However, old age does not have to be a death sentence for the metabolism , as there is the possibility of controlling and improving it through an active lifestyle .
