Obesity May Shrink Your Brain In Old Age
A new study has some evidence that obesity even being a few pounds overweight could have an effect on your brain in later life. The excessive weight may cause brain shrinkage that could lead on to other mental health problems like Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
The study focused on 94 people aged 70 and older, who were overweight (with a body mass index from 25 to 29.9) or obese (with a BMI 30 or higher). Normal BMI is 18.5 to 24.9.
When the first study took place none of the people showed any type of mental problems but in a follow up study 5 years later it was found that the overweight patients lost 4 per cent of the tissue in the frontal lobes of their brains (compared to normal people) and those that were obese had twice the brain loss of 8 per cent loss of tissue. The frontal lobe of the brain deals with planning and memory.
The study also found using an advanced computer technique that obese people’s brains look 16 years older than those of lean people and the brains of overweight people look eight years older.
The conclusion they came for this change is shape and size of the brain was that it was closely linked to what happens to the heart through cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The brain over time (because of weight problems) receives less oxygen and nutrients because of poor blood flow, and so reduces in size and shrinks.
Although there may be a link between obesity and the condition of your brain Cyrus Raji, the lead author of the study believes that it’s not conclusive that obesity leads to mental problems like Alzheimer’s. But that it may make you more vulnerable to it.
Like weight gain the researchers believe that exercise can help to turn things around and not only leave you with a healthy heart but also a healthy brain.
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