Your metabolism doesn’t slow down around middle age

According to a new study, all conventional wisdom about metabolism, such as the belief that we’re prone to putting on pounds year after year from age 20, or that women have a slower metabolism than men, is wrong. 

When researchers looked at data from nearly 6,500 people, they found that our metabolism differs across four distinct stages of life:

• Up until age 1: energy needs shoot up until babies burn calories 50% faster for their body size than adults
• From age 1 to about age 20: our metabolism slows by about 3% a year.
• From age 20 to 50: our metabolism holds steady.
• After age 60: our metabolism declines by about 0.7% a year
• After age 90: people need 26% fewer calories each day than someone in midlife

The study also found that there are no significant differences between the metabolism of men and women.