Baumgartner R N
Clinical Nutrition Research Laboratory, University of New Mexico, School of Medicine, Albuquerque.
Prog Food Nutr Sci. 1993 Jul-Sep;17(3):223-60.
Significant changes in body composition that have important health related effects are believed to occur in the elderly. Knowledge of these changes is important for diagnoses, prognoses, and treatment of health problems. Many health problems in the elderly could be prevented or alleviated by nutritional modulation, but better understanding of the nature, extent, and underlying physiology of body compositional changes is needed for such interventions to be successful. There are currently few data for body composition in the elderly, especially for those greater than 75 y in age, partly because conventional methods of assessing body composition are difficult to apply for technical and conceptual reasons. As a result, little is known regarding the relationships of body composition to nutritional, functional or health status in non-hospitalized, free-living elderly persons. Knowledge of the "natural history" of body compositional changes and their relationships to other nutritional and health factors could lead to new insights on prevention and treatment, the reduction of morbidity and extension of the quality of life of older persons.
人们认为，老年人的身体成分会发生重大变化，这些变化对健康有重要影响。了解这些变化对于健康问题的诊断、预后和治疗至关重要。通过营养调节可以预防或缓解老年人的许多健康问题，但要使此类干预措施取得成功，需要更好地了解身体成分变化的性质、程度和潜在生理学机制。目前关于老年人身体成分的数据很少，尤其是年龄大于75岁的老年人，部分原因是由于技术和概念上的原因，传统的身体成分评估方法难以应用。因此，对于非住院、自由生活的老年人，身体成分与营养、功能或健康状况之间的关系知之甚少。了解身体成分变化的“自然史”及其与其他营养和健康因素的关系，可能会为预防和治疗、降低发病率以及延长老年人的生活质量带来新的见解。
