Body composition in aging: a biological perspective.
OBJECTIVE
Changes in body composition accompany and predict medical and surgical risk; interventions may be considered. Aging affects body composition, particularly in reduction of the body cell mass.


RESULTS
The molecular biology of aging has become an active frontier of research in the past 30 years, with acceleration in the past decade. A review of the toxicities of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, especially at the mitochondria, can now be studied at the molecular, genetic, and proteomic scales, in individual cell components and systems, with major implications for patient management, for planning therapeutic interventions, and for predicting future age spans.


CONCLUSIONS
The intersections between the clinical fields of endocrinology, nuclear medicine/radiology, and geriatrics, with the more fundamental fields of physiology, molecular biology, genetics, and proteomics are indicated.
Pierson
Richard N
RN
Nutrition Research Center, St Lukes Roosevelt Hospital Center, 1111 Amsterdam Avenue at 114th Street, New York, NY 10025, USA. mpl@columbia.edu
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D004249:DNA Damage; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species
D011506:Proteins; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species