{"id":1276,"date":"2026-06-29T14:37:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/?p=1276"},"modified":"2026-06-29T14:37:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:37:28","slug":"everything-told-metabolism-age-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/bbc-sciencefocus\/2026\/06\/29\/everything-told-metabolism-age-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything you\u2019ve been told about your metabolism and age is wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Health<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything you\u2019ve been told about your metabolism and age is wrong<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

It turns out we have much more control over our bodies as we age than you might think<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By Roland Hughes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re past a certain age, there\u2019s a strong chance you have either thought it, or heard someone say it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may have happened when you felt particularly tired and achy, or more likely if you have put on a few unwelcome pounds from your 30s onwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll know the seven words, or a variation of them: \u201cIt\u2019s because my metabolism is slowing down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First things first, you are not alone \u2013 it\u2019s certainly something I\u2019ve uttered in response to the latest reading on my scales, without thinking twice about what it meant. No doubt, I thought those changes indicated only one thing: the slow grind towards my eventual physical breakdown and inevitable death had begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, while it\u2019s true that your metabolism does indeed slow down as you age, this happens much later than you might expect \u2013 and it turns out we have much more control over our metabolism than you would think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four ages of metabolism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s understandable that we blame our metabolism for the problems that tend to emerge as we get older. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your metabolism is, in short, the complex set of chemical processes your body uses to convert food into energy \u2013 powering everything from temperature control to tissue repair. When it slows, the effects can be significant: more body fat, less muscle, slower recovery, a greater sensitivity to cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, when our bodies change in middle age, it turns out metabolism is largely innocent. The real culprit, scientists say, is us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Your metabolism stays more stable than you might expect through middle age, until it starts declining in your 60s. Photo credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A 2021 study published in the journal Science<\/em><\/a> assessed more than 6,400 people from 29 countries, aged between eight days and 95 years old. It looked at how much energy people expended in their daily lives, making adjustments for differences in people\u2019s body weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists asked participants to consume \u2018doubly labelled water\u2019, made up of heavier oxygen and hydrogen atoms than regular old H2<\/sub>O, which can be tracked as they leave the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study concluded there were four main metabolic stages in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first year of life, the study found, metabolism is almost in overdrive: infants up to the age of one were found to expend energy at a rate 50 per cent higher than adults. That\u2019s partly due to the vast amount of energy required to fuel infants\u2019 growing brains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From then up to our early 20s, metabolism was found to slow down by about three per cent a year. So far, so normal. But then, intriguingly, the study found that energy expenditure remained fairly constant from our 20s all the way through to our 60s \u2013 even during pregnancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, from our 60s onwards, it declined at a slightly higher rate, until \u2013 in our 90s \u2013 energy expenditure is 26 per cent lower than it is in middle age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read More:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n