TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR expressed some doubt about the ‘metabolic age’ he was given on last night’s episode of RTÉ’s Operation Transformation.

The weight-loss show tracks a number of participants each week who are attempting to get healthy and in shape.

Last night it featured a number of well-known faces who volunteered to be weighed and have their fitness tested on front of the nation.

Among them was Varadkar, who has appeared on the show before and who is known to have enacted a healthier lifestyle in recent years. He has even competed in triathlons while Taoiseach.

The Taoiseach weighed in at around 95 kg and joked that this was a kilogram more than his own weighing scales at home. 

But it was the revelation surrounding his metabolic age that seemed to irk the health-conscious Fine Gael leader.

Following a series of tests on the programme, Leo Varadkar was told that he had the metabolic age of 53, over a decade above his actual age. Varadkar turned 40 only last month.

“I’m surprised by that,” Varadkar replied in response to the results. “I’d have to see the science behind the breakdown.”

A ‘metabolic age’ is based on the body’s basal metabolic rate, which is the number of calories the body burns while resting. 

Someone’s metabolic age therefore provides someone with a guide to their basal metabolic rate compared to other people their age. 

Someone who is fitter would have a lower metabolic age than their own. Not so in Varadkar’s case it seems.

Other famous faces who appeared on the show included Jake Carter, Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, Aengus Mac Grianna, Anna Geary, Claudia Carroll and Blathnaid Treacy.