You have to lose pounds. A phrase often heard by doctors of all specialties. But is this always possible? and how, diet or exercise in the third age?

Should age be a criterion for the guidance we give our patients? And why does the elderly, although they seem to adopt a healthier lifestyle, fail to lose weight?

Answers comes in a new study that looked at 4,999 American adults, using data from NHANES, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The aim of the researchers was to determine the relationship between exercise, diet and body weight across different age groups.

The results were particularly interesting. It seems that at older ages it is important to maintain body weight, and not so much the quality of nutrition.

Those who relied solely on exhaustive diets for weight loss and did not consume essential ingredients quickly regained their weight.

Exercise, on the other hand, helped maintain weight loss for a longer period of time. It also played an important role in activating metabolism.

It is therefore important to incorporate physical activity into the effort to tackle obesity in all age groups, but especially in the elderly, whose benefits appear to be greater.