Obesity risk
Losing muscle and gaining fat isn't a healthy-sounding prospect. Sadly, changing muscle and body fat ratios is a common part of the aging process – and another reason why exercise and healthy eating matter to young and old alike.
As we grow older, muscle (or 'lean body mass') tends to reduce, leading to a loss of strength and stamina. This process can happen even if you are gaining weight in the form of fat.
What causes it?
Your body mass tends to reflect the amount of energy your body uses. So as you get older a reduction in lean body mass - or muscle - can be made worse by not using up enough energy. It can indicate that you're not getting enough exercise.
If you continue to eat the same amount of food as you did when younger, without increasing your levels of activity, you run the risk of gaining weight – and even becoming obese.
Can it be stopped?
Changes in the body fat to muscle ratio can be minimised through a combination of adequate nutrition and exercise.
Good food and plenty of exercise can help maintain your lean body mass and, in turn, increase your energy requirement and metabolic health. And that can mean reducing your chances of gaining weight.
Tackling global obesity
Obesity is now a public health concern for developed and developing countries alike. Unilever is committed to making a difference by helping people across the world achieve the nutritional balance needed for a healthy lifestyle.
We have strengthened our approach by including calorie content on the labels of every food product in all our markets. We have also established a unique set of guidelines on product formulation and have tight restrictions on our food and beverage marketing to children aged under 12.
Our Nutrition Enhancement Programme has achieved major reductions in levels of sugar, fat and salt across our portfolio of food and drink products. The programme represents an ongoing commitment to help us make further improvements and enable us to respond to the development of new technologies for improving nutritional quality.
