How much fat a person has doesn’t seem to affect how much they eat, but how much muscle they have or how many calories they burn does.

Pro

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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Fat-Free Mass and Total Daily Energy Expenditure Estimated using Doubly Labelled Water Predict Energy Intake in a Large Sample of Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Cross-Sectional Study

Human

2022 Apr 1

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Fat-Free Mass and Total Daily Energy Expenditure Estimated using Doubly Labelled Water Predict Energy Intake in a Large Sample of Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Score: 44

DOI: 10.1093/jn/nxab434

Similar Assertions

The link between muscle mass or calorie burn and how much you eat gets weaker the older you get.

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Older adults who burn more calories each day tend to eat more, but this link gets weaker as they get older.

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Even when men ate the same number of total calories, those who ate fewer meals were still more likely to be obese, meaning it’s not just about how much they eat, but when and how often.

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Even though older people tend to lose weight as they age, those who eat fewer meals or skip snacks still gain less weight than others their age — meaning meal habits matter no matter how old you are.

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