Study Shows Dementia Risk is Three Times Higher in The Obese

Do you have big stomach or waistline? Do you carry your weight near your belt? Are you middle aged? If you answered yes to these questions then you might be three times as likely to develop dementia as the thin waisted person sitting next to you.

Obesity & Dementia

A recent article published in 2008 in the journal Neurology shows that researchers from Kaiser Permanente linked central body obesity (a fat gut) to dementia. The researchers evaluated the medical records of 6,583 elderly people from the 60’s and 70’s and found that those with severe abdominal obesity (the highest quintile) of those studies had a three-fold increase in their risk for dementia. The researches concluded that “central obesity (a fat gut) in [your] midlife increases risk of dementia independent of diabetes and cardiovascular comorbidities. Fifty percent of adults have central obesity; therefore, mechanisms linking central obesity to dementia need to be unveiled.”

Considering so many people (50 percent) have central obesity, according to the researches you might be able to flip this stat on it’s head and say that if you are slim in your gut (lowest quintile of central obesity) you will have third to a quarter chance of getting dementia as the centrally obese. Let this be a motivating factor for shedding some pounds and working out because a mind is a terrible thing to lose.

For Those Who Are Obese

Exercise and diet is obviously the number one and two treatments for obesity and while I’m not here to tell you haw to lose the weight I am here to tell you what else can be done. In addition to exercise and monitoring what you eat you can make sure to eat fish at least three times a week to further minimize your risk for the dementia as well as sport a generally happy and social lifestyle.

Source

• Neurology
  http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/71/14/1057