The aging human body shape

Abstract

Body shape and composition are heterogeneous among humans with possible impact for health. Anthropometric methods and data are needed to better describe the diversity of the human body in human populations, its age dependence, and associations with health risk. We applied whole-body laser scanning to a cohort of 8499 women and men of age 40-80 years within the frame of the LIFE (Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases) study aimed at discovering health risk in a middle European urban population. Body scanning delivers multidimensional anthropometric data, which were further processed by machine learning to stratify the participants into body types. We here applied this body typing concept to describe the diversity of body shapes in an aging population and its association with physical activity and selected health and lifestyle factors. We find that aging results in similar reshaping of female and male bodies despite the large diversity of body types observed in the study. Slim body shapes remain slim and partly tend to become even more lean and fragile, while obese body shapes remain obese. Female body shapes change more strongly than male ones. The incidence of the different body types changes with characteristic Life Course trajectories. Physical activity is inversely related to the body mass index and decreases with age, while self-reported incidence for myocardial infarction shows overall the inverse trend. We discuss health risks factors in the context of body shape and its relation to obesity. Body typing opens options for personalized anthropometry to better estimate health risk in epidemiological research and future clinical applications.

Lifetime depression and age-related changes in body composition, cardiovascular function, grip strength and lung function: sex-specific analyses in the UK Biobank

“…We confirm previous research on sex differences in hand-grip strength [ 10 , 17 – 19 ], blood pressure [ 20 ], pulse rate [ 21 , 22 ], lung function [ 23 – 25 ], body fat percentage [ 26 , 27 ], fat-free mass [ 26 , 27 ] and waist-hip ratio [ 28 ]. Our finding that BMI was higher in males confirms findings from a German study [ 28 ], although studies in US and Chinese adults found no evidence of sex differences [ 26 , 27 ]. The observation that fat mass was higher in females confirms findings from Sweden [ 29 ] and the US [ 26 ], although research in Chinese adults found no evidence of sex differences [ 27 ].…”

Lifetime depression and age-related changes in body composition, cardiovascular function, grip strength and lung function: sex-specific analyses in the UK Biobank

“…Instead, we found that waist-hip ratio continued to increase until age 70. This increase attenuated at old age, in line with German research 41 . The difference between the trajectories of males and females had an inverted U-shape, with the largest difference in waist-hip ratio between age 50 to 55.…”

“…Our findings confirm previous research on age-related changes in grip strength 8,31,32 , blood pressure 10,33,50,51 , fat mass 39,42,52 , fat-free mass 39,52,53 , waist-hip ratio 41 , lung function [36][37][38]54 , bone mineral density 43,55 and arterial stiffness 34,47 .…”

Differences in the gut Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio across age groups in healthy Ukrainian population

“…Age 60) and decreased thereafter (see, e.g., ref. [51][52][53][54]). Importantly, the association between BMI and composition of gut microbiota at different taxonomic levels, including the F/B ratio, has been well established in many populations including the Ukrainian one [55].…”