Body Fat percentage

[Whyiseveryonesoangry]

Does anyone know WHY older women are ‘healthier’ with a higher body fat percentage than younger women?
The healthy band range increases from 21% to 33% above age 39 to 23% to 34%.
I am actually classed as ‘underfat’ according to the charts, but can’t actually find out why we need more body fat as we get older.

Seem like tiny differences, tbh, I bet the margin of uncertainty about sweet spot for ideal health is > 1.5%, anyway. Probably the trend is linked to physical resilience as we get older. You get hit more by chronic disease & any infectious disease is harder as you get older, so likely having a tiny bit excess reserve is more helpful than harmful, on a population level.

Er, how 'underfat' are you, & how do you know? What is your BMI?

Thanks for the reply. It was just one of those questions where I can’t actually find an answer on google!

Not massively under fat at 19%, BMI falls into healthy category.
I have the electronic scales at home that measure fat, and have used the ones at the gym occaissionally to double check accuracy.

i believe higher fat percentage decreases the risk of hip fractures which is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in women.

those scales are very unrliable. they just measure your leg/bottom fat through the electric current (or arm/shoulder with handheld devices).
ideally you would measure arm to foot and in addition take a tape measure to do the 'string test'