Obese more at risk from dementia

A recent study shows piling on weight in middle age may be bad for your head as well as your heart. Photo / Thinkstock

Obesity in middle age could significantly increase the risk of developing dementia in later life and could affect cognitive ability earlier than previously assumed, research has shown.

The study adds to a growing body of evidence that overweight and obese adults are more likely to develop dementias such as Alzheimer's disease.

More than 6400 adults aged between 39 and 63 took part in the ongoing study, published in the journal Neurology Today. Researchers examined cognitive function and body mass index (BMI) as well as conditions associated with obesity such as high blood pressure.

Obesity was found to have an increasingly negative impact on performance in memory and reasoning tests over a 12-year period.

A similar study last year found people who are obese in middle age are nearly four times more likely to develop dementia.

"A picture is building up to suggest that dementia is linked to weight in mid-life," said Jessica Smith, a research officer for the Alzheimer's Society.

"We all know that piling on the pounds is bad for your physical health, but this robust study suggests it is bad for the head as well as the heart. Anything that reduces blood flow to the brain, such as high blood pressure associated with obesity, could increase the risk of dementia later in life."

The exact nature of the link between obesity and associated cardio-vascular problems and cognitive decline is not yet clear, but diseases of the blood vessels supplying the brain, and the release of proteins by fatty tissue that can affect the ageing brain, have been suggested by scientists as possible causes.

Professor Archana Singh-Manoux, the research director at the French medical institute INSERM, who co-wrote the report, said our understanding of dementia was changing, but that more research was needed before the specific causal factors could be identified.

"One in three people over the age of 65 will die with some form of dementia," Smith said.

"The best way of reducing your risk of developing dementia is to eat a balanced diet, maintain a healthy weight, exercise regularly and get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked."

- Independent