Obesity accelerates brain ageing: a multimodal imaging study

It is YOUR DOCTOR'S TOTAL RESPONSIBILITY TO GET YOU 100% RECOVERED SO YOU DON'T GAIN WEIGHT!

My doctor obviously knew nothing about weight gain post stroke. He didn't reference body metabolism slowing down after age 50 and my limited exercise ability which I used to do to excess allowing me to eat as I wanted. This incompetence led me to a 35 lb. weight gain which I'm still working to conquer.  I'm still overweight but not obese.

I was at exactly 25 BMI prior to stroke, then gained 35 pounds because my doctor knew nothing and did nothing to get me recovered enough to continue with all the activities that kept me in shape. 19 years later and I'm still fighting to get rid of the 'Dad' bod.  

Is the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) better at this? Mine is 38/73 inches = 0.52054 My BMI is 28.2 I think I'm pretty good. I'm overweight, but at least not obese.

 Obesity accelerates brain ageing: a multimodal imaging study

Federico Vanni1, Sebastiano Cinetto2, Michele De Filippo De Grazia1, Marco Zorzi1,2, Nicola Filippini1 1 IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venezia, Italy. 2 Department of General Psychology, and Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Padova, Italy.  Federico Vanni and Sebastiano Cinetto contributed equally to this work.  Marco Zorzi and Nicola Filippini contributed equally to this work. To whom correspondence is addressed: Dr. Nicola Filippini, IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Via Alberoni, 70 - 30126 Venezia, Italy. Email: nicola.filippini@hsancamillo.it – Phone number: +39 041 2207304 Prof. Marco Zorzi, Department of General Psychology, and Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, Padova, Italy. Email: marco.zorzi@unipd.it – Phone number: +39 049 8276618 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/advance-article/doi/10.1093/braincomms/fcaf389/8284626 by guest on 16 October 2025 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

 Abstract Obesity is a global health concern, and it is thought to accelerate the normal aging process. Obesity has also been linked to neurodegenerative processes, possibly as a manifestation of accelerated brain aging. In this cross-sectional study we combined multimodal neuroimaging data and machine learning techniques to assess the discrepancy between brain-based predicted age and chronological age, known as brain age delta, in obese participants and in normal-weighted individuals using a tight matching for age, gender, and education across groups. Data were taken from the publicly available dataset “The Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN)” covering the adult lifespan (18-90 years old). Overall, brain age delta was greater in obese individuals for grey matter (GM) and functional connectivity (intra- and inter-network connectivity) measures. When considering the age-range, the difference between groups peaked in mid-age (40-60 years old) for GM, while for intra-network connectivity it was more marked in late age (60-90 years old). Overall, our results provide evidence to the hypothesis that obesity accelerates the brain ageing process, with the earliest effect already evident in the 40-60 age range. Earlier intervention on obesity might contribute to maintain a healthy brain potentially reducing the risk of developing late-life brain related pathologies. Keywords: Obesity, BMI, Brain age, Neuroimaging, Machine Learning Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/braincomms/advance-article/doi/10.1093/braincomms/fcaf389/8284626 by guest on 16 October 2025 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT