otherwise healthy adult life, and unintentional weight loss in the elderly resulting in low body weight. the health consequences of such weignt loss and low body weight in the elderly are very different from the postulated benefits of energy restriction earlier in adult life.
for the majority of adult life, maintaining body weight within the normal BMI range is desirable for health. However, elderly people (especially those aged >75 years) are considerably less likely to suffer any negative health consequences from being a little overweight (approximate BMI 26-28kg/m2) maintaining their weight at such a level can be advantageous to their health