Skinny is back in fashion – but it's a trend that could prove deadly to the over-60s

Telegraph

a day ago

In case you hadn't noticed, skinny is back. Sigh. Both the jeans and the Twiggy physique to slip into them.
But while the glossies are full of suggestions on how to style your denim, there's a bit of an information gap when it comes to shedding the midlife pounds without damaging your long-term health.
Fail to lose enough and you won't fit into that Hobbs summer dress. Shed too many and you could really be storing up trouble.
As we age we lose muscle as well as fat and that places individuals at risk of becoming frail. I thought it was just an adjective, but frailty is actually a medical condition, which is common in older people.
Symptoms include reduced muscle strength, fatigue, slower walking pace, lower activity levels, weight loss and increased vulnerability.
Research by The Royal College of Anaesthetists and the University of Nottingham has just revealed that frail patients stay an average of three days longer in hospital after an operation than patients who are fit for surgery. Those who are severely frail remain on wards for six days longer.
They are also three times more likely to suffer from complications and three times more likely to die in the first year after surgery.
No wonder then that experts have called for all surgical patients over the age of 60 to be screened for frailty as standard practice to bolster recovery and slash extended stays in hospital.
It sounds like an eminently sensible idea, but it might be better if more emphasis were placed on prevention rather than cure.
In the age of the fat jab, a great many older people are reaching for Ozempic and Mounjaro to reduce their appetite and silence the food noise that has plagued them for most of their lives. But it's all too easy to get hooked.
Photos of early adopter Sharon Osbourne are enough to put the wind up anyone. The 72-year-old wife of erstwhile hellraiser Ozzy was among the first celebrities to publicly confirm using the diabetes drug Ozempic in December 2022.
She lost three stone in four months, but had subsequently admitted it was 'too much'. Her gaunt 'Ozempic face' caused concern among her fans and so she set about gaining a little of her old weight back.
But to her consternation, she discovered she couldn't. The pendulum – or its metabolic equivalent – had swung too far. And although she's been off the drug for a while, she remains a shadow of her former self.
Then, just last month, Dame Patricia Hewitt, 76, who was health secretary in Tony Blair's government, urged the NHS to tell slim elderly patients to maintain a higher 'buffer weight'.
This came after she became severely ill on holiday in Australia, spending six weeks in hospital, during which time her weight plunged 'absolutely catastrophically' to below seven stone. She has since been advised to gain two stone to protect her health in the future.
It might sound counter intuitive, but science has identified a 'longevity paradox' in that overweight, older adults are less prone to fragility and actually outlive those who are underweight, especially among women.
Supermodel Kate Moss once observed that nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. She's 51 and sylph-like as ever. But perhaps any day now she'll conclude that tastes change over time and future-proofing her body is the most delicious treat of all.