In a study just published in the current online edition of the journal Human Brain Mapping, a research team from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of Pittsburgh, compared the brains of people who were obese, overweight, and of normal weight. They used Body Mass Index (BMI) to categorize the weight,normal weight people had a BMI between 18.5 and 25, overweight people had a BMI between 25 and 30, and obese people's BMI was more than 30.
The scientists wanted to see if there was any difference between the brains of those with different BMIs. They discovered that obese people had eight percent less brain tissue than people with normal weight and also people who were only overweight showed a loss of about four percent of brain tissue. By comparing the gray matter and white matter they found that obese people had lost brain tissue in frontal and temporal lobes (parts of the brain critical for memory and planning), the anterior cingulate gyrus (needed for attention and executive functions), hippocampus (critical for long term memory) and the basal ganglia (needed for movement). Overweight people showed less brain loss,mostly in the basal ganglia and the parietal lobe (known as the sensory lobe).
This is a very exciting study that could encourage obese people to lose weight.
According to this study obese people are more prone to Alzheimer's and memory loss. Obesity may also affect the learning power of obese kids, in this case parents will try more to not get their kid become obese.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027046_overweight_obesity_health.html
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I gave a presentation that covered this topic. In the study I found the brain ventricles had become enlarged in the obese subjects. It was explained that the chronic hypertension associated with obesity caused brain tissue loss but the correlation with decreased brain function was only assumed. Do you know if obesity and brain function have been studied directly or is it just assumed because the subjects have less brain tissue?
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting study, thanks for posting it. I wonder, like Randy if tissue loss equates to functionality impairment. I also wonder if there were any hints at whether or not this is reversible? Do obese people that lose weight regain that brain tissue?
ReplyDeleteThe actual article is not out yet. This was on the news, so I cann't really tell how much impairement they had with that much brain loss. But I think because Alzheimer's Disease is caused by brain degeneration, this could predict the future disease. I will keep looking for the actual article to give updates on other aspects of the study.
ReplyDeleteI never even thought about how our weight class could effect our brain. I, like other, have found this article to be very interesting. In the study its believed that people who are obese are prone to Alzheimer's and memory loss due to tissue lost which makes sense. Its there any studies about the different types of obese class like moderately or morbidly obese and the amount each class would lose in tissue mass?
ReplyDeleteDo you know if there were any other constraints beyond BMI classification? Because I know that some individuals will be regarded based on BMI as overweight but water displacement is a better measurement as adipose and muscle tissue differ. I am just wondering if they measured total fat tissue by another means before coming to these conclusions, also family history of disease such as Alzheimer's etc?
ReplyDeleteThe paper of the study done on the obesity and brain loss is not out yet I found something that relates this relation to the glycosylation of brain metabolites:
ReplyDeleteThe mechanisms relating adiposity and Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) to Alzheimer's disease (AD) may include hyperinsulinemia, advanced products of glycosilation, cerebrovascular disease, and products of adipose tissue metabolism. Elevated adiposity in middle age is related to a higher risk of AD but the data on this association in old age is conflicting. Several studies have shown that hyperinsulinemia, a consequence of higher adiposity and insulin resistance
is also related to a higher risk of AD. Hyperinsulinemia is a risk factor for T2D, and numerous studies have shown a relation of T2D with higher AD risk. The implication of these associations is that a large proportion of the world population may be at increased risk of AD given the trends for increasing prevalence of overweight, obesity, hyperinsulinemia, and T2D. However these associations may present a unique opportunity for prevention and treatment of AD. Several studies in the prevention and treatment of T2D are currently conducting or have planned cognition ancillary studies. In addition, clinical trials using insulin sensitizers in the treatment or prevention of AD are under way.