METABOLISM: Peaks at age one, tanks after 60
September 18, 2021 • 1 min read
-- Stop blaming middle-age spread on waning metabolism
Metabolism – the rate at which we burn calories – peaks much earlier and starts its inevitable decline later than we think, a new study has found.
Researchers analysed the average number of calories burned by more than 6,600 people, ranging in age from one week old to 95 years, as they went about their daily lives.
Pound-for-pound, infants had the highest metabolic rates of all.
Energy needs shoot up during the first 12 months of life, with babies burning 50% more calories for their body size than adults.
After the initial surge in infancy, a person’s metabolism slows by about 3 percent each year until their 20s, when it levels off, with little to no change until the age of 60.
Then it’s all down hill.
By the age of 90 metabolism drops to a level around 26% lower than the rate recorded in mid-life.