Weight Loss 2016 News and Advantages: Overweight, Obese People's Brains May Shrink and Age Ten Years Faster; Study Finds
Overweight, Obese People Have Older Brains
People who are overweight or obese are more than likely to have "older" brains compared to their skinnier peers.
It is a known fact that obesity is a great contributor for heart disease, diabetes and cancer but it obesity can also cause people's brains to be older, according to a new study. Furthermore, researchers have found that their brains are smaller in size due to shrinkage especially the white matter.
Overweight, Obese Brain Aging, Shrinkage Affects Cognition?
Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience researchers found in their study via a brainscan that the brains of people who are overweight or obese are older by 10 years compared to their skinnier peers. However, this only applies to people who are in their middle ages.
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Furthermore, the obese brains also had shrinkage and had less white matter volume and it is unknown why this happens. The researchers explained that this did not affect cognition or performance at all.
The Guardian notes that the white matter in the brain is tissue and it is responsible for sending messages across the brain. White matter decreases as the person ages but it has been observed to be the moreso for older, obese people. The results of the study are published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging.
Obesity Linked to Neurodegenerative Diseases?
The "older brain" syndrome effect in obese patients was most prominent among middle-aged people. Obese patients with brains 10 years older than their peers did not have any sort of cognitive impairment in addition to the white matter shrinkage. They were tested together with their leaner peers to find out if it causes any kind of effect but the researchers were unable to find any.
Senior author Paul Fletcher noted that this age group may be particularly vulnerable, Daily Mail reported. The increasing threat of the obesity epidemic, more research is needed to identify the in-depth effects of obesity among middle-aged people. In line with this, they also intend to know if the effect can be reversed via weight loss and with healthy lifestyle.
Do you believe that obesity is a contributing factor for so many diseases and not just the diseases it is popularly associated with today? If you do, let us know how obesity could be connected to other conditions in the comments below.
