It’s hard to admit, but as the years roll by, things can start feeling different. You probably can’t – or even don’t want to – eat like you did at 21, and many of the foods you’ve tolerated for decades might suddenly be causing issues.
A salty meal may cause puffiness, while your morning coffee may leave you anxious. And let’s not even pretend that a few glasses of wine don’t hit harder than they used to. It’s not in your head. As we age, everything from hormones and digestion to metabolism and sleep all change, as does the way your body responds to food.
“When you’re younger, you can push through poor sleep, rely on caffeine, eat in a more chaotic way and your body absorbs it. By midlife, that buffering capacity narrows and your cells don’t respond with the same resilience,” says Melanie Murphy Richter, a registered dietitian and Director of Communications at L-Nutra. “Your body becomes more sensitive to inputs that it used to tolerate.”
Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, adds that with age, things become slower, fat is stored in the wrong places, we have less muscle and a slower metabolism. “So often, the quality of the nourishment that you have to put in your body has to improve. It’s like an older engine needs better quality fuel.”
So why is your body reacting so differently now?
Salt
If your usual Chinese takeaway is suddenly leaving you puffy, bloated, gassy or parched, you’re not alone.
Despite the recommended salt intake being the same for younger and older adults, with age, your body often becomes more sensitive to salt, meaning it has a bigger effect on fluid retention and blood pressure than it once did. A big reason for this, according to a research review in the journal ABC Cardiol, is because your kidneys become less efficient over time, so they’re less able to remove excess salt after a salty meal, meaning it stays in the body longer.
Professor Satter adds that blood pressure also goes up naturally with age, as “blood vessels start to stiffen and become less pliable”. High salt intake is already linked to raised blood pressure – a risk for cardiovascular disease – but when you’re older, having the same amount of salt as when you were younger can have an even greater effect on blood pressure.
“Salt carries with it more water so there’s more fluid into the body. So if you have more fluid, having to carry it through stiffer blood vessels, that causes blood pressure to rise even more,” says Professor Sattar. “When you’re younger, you’ve got more pliable blood vessels and you’re able to buffer that better.”
Occasional bloating is very normal, especially after a salty meal. Professor Sattar recommends cutting back on salty foods. This could mean reducing UPFs and cooking more from scratch.
Alcohol
Hangovers just get worse with age, even though you’re probably drinking less than you did in your twenties.
An old study by Johns Hopkins University gave 50 healthy adults aged 21 to 81, the same amount of alcohol over one hour, then measured their blood alcohol levels for several hours afterwards. All ages metabolised alcohol at the same rate but blood alcohol levels were higher in older people.
The researchers put this down to a reduction in lean body mass and total body water, which means less water and muscle for alcohol to dissolve into. Instead, it remains in the bloodstream where it can cause you to feel drunker, quicker.
Adding to this, Professor Sattar says that as we all get older, we tend to put on more fat, potentially making our tolerance for alcohol lower. “More of the fat gravitates towards the centre of the body where it can cause more harm, getting into organs, where it’s not meant to be, such as the liver. The organs can become a bit less efficient, having to challenge with more fat. So, our capacity therefore to drink alcohol to the same extent when we were young, reduces”.
Let’s not forget the effect that alcohol can have on our waistline, which can worsen with age. “Alcohol is full of calories. People generally realise that they can’t drink as much as when they were younger, because they’re not running it off,” adds Professor Sattar.
To drink with fewer negative effects, avoid drinking on an empty stomach, alternate drinks with water, choose lower-alcohol options, stop drinking a few hours before bed and avoid using alcohol as a sleep support.
Sugar
Energy crashes, brain fog, constant cravings and even stubborn tummy fat… all signs that even if your diet hasn’t changed, the way your body handles sugar might.
“We often see a gradual reduction in insulin sensitivity, meaning the body becomes less effective at moving sugar from the bloodstream into cells after eating, so blood glucose levels stay higher for longer,” says Murphy Richter.
Paired with a loss of muscle mass, which decreases up to 8 per cent per decade after the age of 30, blood sugar can feel really unstable. “Muscle is one of the primary places glucose is stored, so when there’s less of it, glucose stays elevated longer.”
Expect higher energy peaks and more noticeable drops after a high-sugar or high-carb meal. “People might feel more fatigued, irritable or as though they need something like sugar or caffeine to quickly bring their energy back up,” adds Murphy Richter.
Stressed and struggling to sleep? Almost two in five Brits aged 50 and over reported not sleeping well, say stats by Age UK, but this could make your sugar tolerance even worse. “When sleep is compromised, appetite increases as the body tries to compensate for a perceived lack of energy,” says Murphy Richter. “Chronic stress increases the stress hormone cortisol, raising blood sugar and driving the desire for quick, easily accessible fuel.” Think biscuits, cake or a sugary coffee.
To stabilise your blood sugar, the basics matter.
“Build meals around protein, such as chicken, eggs, fish and legumes. Fibre, wholegrains, vegetables, and fat, such as avocado, nuts and olive oil, will help,” explains Murphy Richter. “Eat regularly to avoid big swings and maintain muscle with resistance-based exercise two to three times a week.”
Caffeine
Feeling more jittery and anxious after your morning coffee?
“I often see people feel caffeine more intensely because their system has less capacity to absorb that level of stimulation,” says Murphy Richter.
If your blood sugar is less stable, you’re stressed and your sleep is lighter, caffeine can amplify it all, pushing you into a more wired, tired state. “Nutrient status plays into this as well. Magnesium and B vitamins all influence how someone tolerates caffeine. When those are off, caffeine can feel stronger,” adds Murphy Richter.
Plus, your body metabolises caffeine more slowly with age, especially in women. A 2020 study published in the journal Environmental Research found that menopause alters the activity of CYP1A2, one of the main liver enzymes responsible for breaking down caffeine.
“There’s also evidence that caffeine distributes into muscles and lean mass, but this diminishes with age as our muscle mass naturally declines so caffeine can end up having more adverse effects,” says Professor Sattar.
It’s worth flagging that coffee, which is packed with antioxidants, does have benefits. However, these benefits typically apply to both caffeinated and decaf coffee.
A 2019 study in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics found that people who drank three cups of coffee a day – decaf or caffeinated – had a 13 per cent lower risk of dying early compared with those who rarely drank coffee. Another study in the European Heart Journal found that drinking decaf or caffeinated coffee before midday was linked with a lower risk of dying from heart and circulatory diseases.
If you do still want to drink caffeinated coffee, have it alongside food, stick to one a day and drink it in the morning to stop it interfering with sleep. “Ideally, you want to keep your muscle mass up and keep your weight down, so you need good sleep for this,” says Professor Sattar.
Fat
Noticed that you feel more uncomfortable after a greasy curry? “As you get older, the gallbladder’s muscular tone is reduced,” says Professor Sattar. “This means it empties bile less efficiently, which is your digestive fluid.” Your gallbladder’s job is to store and release bile, which is made by your liver.
Bile helps to break down fat, so less of it means fat stays in your gut longer, causing indigestion and sometimes a nauseous feeling. Bile also helps to carry cholesterol out of the body.
According to past research in The New England Journal of Medicine, less bile can mean more cholesterol, which clumps together and eventually forms gallstones. “A lot of people have gallstones – about 10 per cent of the population – but most of them are asymptomatic. When symptomatic, they can become very painful on the right-hand side of your abdomen,” says Professor Sattar.
“Your GP will conduct a liver function test to diagnose gallstones. Some people will need surgery to remove them, called a systectomy.”
Professor Sattar recommends eating regular meals, drinking plenty of water, eating high fibre, lower fat foods (such as wholegrains, potatoes and vegetables) and avoiding crash diets and rapid weight loss as this can increase the risk of gallstones.
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