Going S, Williams D, Lohman T
Department of Exercise and Sports Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 1995;23:411-58.
There is no doubt that body composition changes with aging. Some general trends have been described, including an increase in body weight and fat mass in middle age followed by a decrease in stature, weight, FFM, and body cell mass at older ages. Losses in muscle, protein, and bone mineral contribute to the decline in FFM; however, the onset and rates of decline remain controversial. Most data are available for men and women < 80 yr and we know relatively little about the normal status and the changes that occur in body composition in elderly men and women. This situation has developed in part because the changes that occur in various body constituents with aging confound the estimation of body composition by traditional techniques. Hence, there is a need for longitudinal reference data in persons 80 yr of age, both to describe the normal status and to develop valid prediction equations for estimating body composition in older men and women in settings outside the laboratory. This should be possible using new technologies and approaches based on multiple component models of body composition. An understanding of the normal changes in body composition with increasing age, the normal variation in these changes, and their health implications is important for the health, nutritional support, and pharmacologic treatment of elderly men and women in the United States. The information is especially important because elderly men and women, in terms of both numbers and health care dollars, represent the most rapidly expanding segment of the U.S. population.
毫无疑问，身体成分会随着衰老而发生变化。一些总体趋势已被描述，包括中年时体重和脂肪量增加，随后在老年时身高、体重、去脂体重和身体细胞量下降。肌肉、蛋白质和骨矿物质的流失导致去脂体重下降；然而，下降的起始时间和速率仍存在争议。大多数数据来自80岁以下的男性和女性，而我们对老年男性和女性身体成分的正常状态及变化了解相对较少。这种情况的出现部分是因为随着衰老，身体各组成部分发生的变化使传统技术对身体成分的估计变得复杂。因此，需要80岁人群的纵向参考数据，以描述正常状态，并开发有效的预测方程，用于在实验室以外的环境中估计老年男性和女性的身体成分。利用基于身体成分多组分模型的新技术和方法应该能够做到这一点。了解随着年龄增长身体成分的正常变化、这些变化的正常差异及其对健康的影响，对于美国老年男性和女性的健康、营养支持和药物治疗非常重要。这些信息尤为重要，因为就数量和医疗保健费用而言，老年男性和女性是美国人口中增长最快的部分。
