Literature Review: Healthy Ageing and Obesity in Older Adults

This literature review synthesizes existing research on healthy ageing, obesity, and weight loss, focusing on the challenges and interventions relevant to older adults. It examines the causes and impact of obesity, highlighting the role of lifestyle interventions and calorie restrictions in promoting weight loss and improving health outcomes. The review analyzes several studies, including those that discuss the relationship between ageing, obesity, and metabolic changes, as well as the importance of exercise and dietary modifications. It explores the use of systematic review methods, the strengths and limitations of various research approaches, and the impact of socioeconomic factors on obesity. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of combining regular exercise with calorie restrictions to mitigate obesity-related issues and improve the quality of life for older adults. The review underscores the need for future research to address lean body mass and bone loss in older adults, while also providing practical recommendations for clinicians and individuals seeking to manage weight and promote healthy ageing.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Scope of the review.........................................................................................................................2
Literature Review............................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The purpose of the review is to synthesize the controversies, themes, ideas and recommendations
found in the literature based on healthy ageing. It aims to provide an understanding of the ideas
and knowledge that is established from healthy ageing, overweight and weight loss. In most parts
of the world, obesity in older adults is widespread, that leads to poor health outcomes. Obesity
mat results in severe illness or even death that is faced by both moderate or low-income
communities and rich communities. Because of psychological changes that take place in the
organism, the risk of obesity is higher among older adults. Thus, it becomes significant for older
adults to change their eating habits to avoid becoming obese. Therefore, the paper will be about
the actions that have to be taken by Frederic Arum to enhance its healthy ageing.
Scope of the review
The scope of the study is to discuss the causes, impact of obesity and overweight in older adults,
along with effective measures to overcome this significant issue. It will focus on identifying
similarities underlying mechanisms based on both ageing and obesity. The research aims to bring
evidence-based on age-related changes in body fat metabolism and supply, which accelerates the
ageing process (Brown & Kuk, 2015). The structure of the review will be based on the current
status of knowledge based on lifestyle intervention and calorie restrictions to enhance weight
loss in obese older population.
Literature Review
The research aims to evaluate geriatric obesity-related interventions that can promote clinical
recommendations using a two-tiered screening approach. According to Batsis et al., (2017), the
epidemic of obesity is determined to be a body mass index where 35.4% of the population aged
65 are obese, and 30% population are overweight. As compared to other articles, the study states
that obesity is related to poor quality of life, impaired function, premature mortality, disease and
illness. The research used a systematic review design method for identifying clinical
recommendations. Based on the findings, it can be said that results in older adults like self-
reported health and functional status may be useful to promote geriatric obesity strategies that
can be integrated into regular practice (Bales & Porter Starr, 2018). Even though weight loss
results in improvements in functions, the outcomes state that functional improvements can be

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attained by doing exercise. The researchers agreed that dietary loss is an efficient way for older
person to reduce weight. The strengths of the review are the utilization of PRISMA criteria that
helps in improving transparency and reproducibility of the process and minimizes error and bias.
The article deals with publication bias, which creates an impact on the study that includes
participants aged 60 to 64, which is regarded as a limitation of this analysis. The article states the
importance of dietary weight loss that helps in reducing fat-free mass and fat mass. It is the
responsibility of the clinicians to examine each individual and focus towards prevention and
wellness of bone loss and sarcopenia that is observed in older adults (Frasca, Diaz, Romero &
Blomberg, 2017). As a result, Frederic Arum must maintain proper diet depending upon his age
to reduce weight and stay fit.
As per Jura & Kozak, (2016), ageing and obesity are the conditions leading to an increased risk
of illness and death and severe health issues. Obesity is a multifactorial and complex problem in
older adults where the body weight is affected by an energy imbalance, genetic factors and
environmental conditions when energy intake extends energy expense. The study discusses
changes in the lifestyle of the older adults that lead to a situation which hastens the growth of
age-related diseases, accumulation of excess fat tissue and balance states of chronic positive
energy that differentiates itself from other articles. The researchers agree with the fact that
physical training helps in losing weight. The findings state that with increasing age, the
adiponectin levels increase that is based on the risk of cardiovascular disease and progression of
ageing (Pérez et al., 2016). The strength of the research is the description of adipocyte biology
and its impact on the ageing process and obese condition. The limitations of the article are that it
only focused on the similarities of different mechanisms rather than the dissimilarities. The
research demonstrates the fact that during the ageing process, increasing visceral obesity is
observed that contributes to metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance (Puhl & Suh, 2015).
Socio-economic situations play a vital role in the growth of obesity. Therefore, it is significant
for Frederic Arum to focus on socioeconomic factors to reduce body weight.
As stated by Locher et al., (2016), the older adults are the fastest-growing segment and a large
amount of population are stepping into old age obese. The purpose is to emphasize lifestyle
intervention that enhances weight loss. Despite growth longevity, most of the older adults
experience functional limitations and comorbidities. The study measured cost from the patient's

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perspective that differentiates itself from other articles as no study evaluated the cost to patients
for dietary changes or exercise. The study design used by the research is RCT that provides
appropriate health education. Some of the researchers disagreed that ageing is the main reason
that leads to disease. The findings suggest that calorie restrictions result in improvements and
weight loss in physical function. The findings also support the integration of resistance training
into obesity treatment for older population (Cuthbertson et al., 2016). The strength of the article
is that it provides relevant knowledge related to calorie restrictions in older adults. The limitation
of the article is the use of different domains to measure the outcomes. The article recommends
that to reduce the medical complications related to weight loss therapy and disease in older
people, it is significant to enhance quality of life and physical function (Wagenmakers, Strauss,
Shepherd, Keske & Cocks, 2016). Thus, Frederic Arum must emphasize calorie restrictions that
will help in reducing weight.
As mentioned by Waters, Ward & Villareal, (2013), to obesity in the older population in the
developed countries results in negative health results that make it a significant health target. In
older adults, the treatment remains controversial because of complex behaviour change with the
possibility of long-term weight maintenance and age-related loss of bone and skeletal muscle.
The study differs from other articles as it discusses the interconnected and complex pathways
and molecules. The research used RCT as a study design to examine the complex interplay
among inflammatory markers, growth factors, hormones, diet composition, weight loss, calorie
restrictions and exercise (Scott, de Courten & Ebeling, 2016). The researchers agree that calorie
restrictions and exercise are effective ways to reduce body fat. The findings indicate a great
proportion of weight loss in this particular population that is achievable through lifestyle
interventions. The article gives utmost importance to lifestyle intervention, which is determined
to be a significant strength. The limitation of the study is the use of small sample size and
shortage of control group (Rivas‐Marino et al., 2015). The study recommends prescribing anti-
resorptive therapy, protein and vitamin D supplementation, calcium and exercise training
modalities, which will be helpful for Frederic Arum to maintain body weight.
Conclusion
The paper demonstrated an understanding of the causes of obesity that increases with the ageing
process. The major themes of the literature are to determine the condition that increases the risk

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of obesity and to implement appropriate measures to overcome obesity. It has been agreed that
calorie restrictions and exercise can help older adults to reduce weight. Whereas, most of the
researchers disagree with the fact that ageing is the major risk factor for the occurrence of most
of the diseases. It has been observed that for older obese older adults, future research on lifestyle
interventions must address lean body mass and loss of bone. However, to mitigate obesity-
related issues for older adults, it is significant to have regular exercise combined with calorie
restrictions.

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References
Bales, C. W., & Porter Starr, K. N. (2018). Obesity interventions for older adults: diet as a
determinant of physical function. Advances in Nutrition, 9(2), 151-159.
Batsis, J. A., Gill, L. E., Masutani, R. K., Adachi‐Mejia, A. M., Blunt, H. B., Bagley, P. J., ... &
Bartels, S. J. (2017). Weight loss interventions in older adults with obesity: a systematic
review of randomized controlled trials since 2005. Journal of the American Geriatrics
Society, 65(2), 257-268.
Brown, R. E., & Kuk, J. L. (2015). Consequences of obesity and weight loss: a devil's advocate
position. obesity reviews, 16(1), 77-87.
Cuthbertson, D. J., Bell, J. A., Ng, S. Y., Kemp, G. J., Kivimaki, M., & Hamer, M. (2016).
Dynapenic obesity and the risk of incident Type 2 diabetes: the English Longitudinal
Study of Ageing. Diabetic Medicine, 33(8), 1052-1059.
Frasca, D., Diaz, A., Romero, M., & Blomberg, B. B. (2017). Ageing and obesity similarly
impair antibody responses. Clinical & Experimental Immunology, 187(1), 64-70.
Jura, M., & Kozak, L. P. (2016). Obesity and related consequences to ageing. Age, 38(1), 23.
Locher, J. L., Goldsby, T. U., Goss, A. M., Kilgore, M. L., Gower, B., & Ard, J. D. (2016).
Calorie restriction in overweight older adults: Do benefits exceed potential
risks?. Experimental gerontology, 86, 4-13.
Pérez, L. M., Pareja‐Galeano, H., Sanchis‐Gomar, F., Emanuele, E., Lucia, A., & Gálvez, B. G.
(2016). ‘Adipaging’: ageing and obesity share biological hallmarks related to a
dysfunctional adipose tissue. The Journal of physiology, 594(12), 3187-3207.
Puhl, R., & Suh, Y. (2015). Health consequences of weight stigma: implications for obesity
prevention and treatment. Current obesity reports, 4(2), 182-190.
Rivas‐Marino, G., Negin, J., Salinas‐Rodríguez, A., Manrique‐Espinoza, B., Sterner, K. N.,
Snodgrass, J., & Kowal, P. (2015). Prevalence of overweight and obesity in older M

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exican adults and its association with physical activity and related factors: An analysis of
the study on global ageing and adult health. American Journal of Human Biology, 27(3),
326-333.
Scott, D., de Courten, B., & Ebeling, P. R. (2016). Sarcopenia: a potential cause and
consequence of type 2 diabetes in Australia's ageing population?. Medical Journal of
Australia, 205(7), 329-333.
Wagenmakers, A. J., Strauss, J. A., Shepherd, S. O., Keske, M. A., & Cocks, M. (2016).
Increased muscle blood supply and transendothelial nutrient and insulin transport induced
by food intake and exercise: effect of obesity and ageing. The Journal of
physiology, 594(8), 2207-2222.
Waters, D. L., Ward, A. L., & Villareal, D. T. (2013). Weight loss in obese adults 65 years and
older: a review of the controversy. Experimental gerontology, 48(10), 1054-1061.