Hunger Decreases With Age in Adults With Obesity

A study presented at the recent Endocrine Society Annual Meeting suggests hunger and ghrelin levels may be lower and peptide YY levels may be higher in older adults with obesity compared to their younger counterparts, reports Healio . The research involved six adults aged 65 to 85 years and 15 adults aged 21 to 45 years, comparing their appetite, ad libitum energy intake, ghrelin, peptide YY, and GLP-1. According to area under the curve (AUC), the older men and women had lower levels of hunger, as well as a higher AUC in relation to peptide YY. No significant differences were observed between the cohorts in terms of satiety, food cravings, restraint, disinhibition, leptin, and GLP-1. "Further research is needed to help us determine the significance of the differences in appetite-related peptides and behaviors in older and younger adults with obesity," said the University of Colorado School of Medicine's Sean J. Iwamoto. "There may also be potential age-specific interventions for weight management based on future studies with more participants. These results also raise questions to further study, including sex-differences in appetite-related peptides and behaviors as well as comparing cohorts with obesity with those of normal weight."