Obesity associated with increased brain-age from mid-life

Your doctor can reconcile this other research and come up with a protocol for you.

Ketogenic diet for obesity: friend or foe? 

A June Lancet study came to a surprisingly different conclusion. Underweight people in mid-life seemed more at risk for dementia.

Damn. You do fucking expect your doctor to know at least the right weight for you to be at? 

Obesity associated with increased brain-age from mid-life

Lisa RonanPress enter key for correspondence informationPress enter key to Email the author

,

Aaron F. Alexander-Bloch

,

Konrad Wagstyl

,

Sadaf Farooqi

,

Carol Brayne

,

Lorraine K. Tyler

, Cam-CAN^e,

Paul C. Fletcher

Open Access

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.07.010

Open access funded by Wellcome Trust

Article Info

• Abstract

• Full Text
• Images
• References
• Supplemental Materials

Abstract

Common mechanisms in aging and obesity are hypothesized to increase susceptibility to neurodegeneration, however direct evidence in support of this hypothesis is lacking. We therefore performed a cross-sectional analysis of MRI-based brain structure on a population-based cohort of healthy adults. Study participants were originally part of the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) and included 527 individuals aged 20 – 87 years. Cortical reconstruction techniques were used to generate measures of whole brain cerebral white matter volume, cortical thickness and surface area. Results indicated that cerebral white matter volume in overweight and obese individuals was associated with a greater degree of atrophy, with maximal effects in middle-age corresponding to an estimated increase of brain-age of 10 years. There were no similar BMI-related changes in cortical parameters. This study suggests that at a population level, obesity may increase the risk of neurodegeneration.