
Body Composition, Protein Requirements and Nutritional Quality Across the Lifespan: A Clinical Perspective
For many years, body weight has been used as a primary marker of health. However, weight alone is a limited metric. It does not distinguish between adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, bone mass or fluid balance. Increasingly, evidence suggests that body composition and metabolic health provide a more meaningful framework for clinical discussions than weight loss in isolation. As clinicians, it is important that public health messaging remains evidence based, proportionate and free from oversimplification. This includes recognising that nutritional needs




