| 6 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago Study: Excess abdominal fat linked to dementia
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(NECN: Watertown, Mass.) - New research shows there may be a better reason than ever to lose weight. Doctors have linked excess abdominal fat to dementia.
NECN’s Ally Donnelly has details.
Script:
This was Paul raia in 2004. Nearly four years later he has lost 125 pounds.
“Since Alzheimer’s runs in my family, I thought I should take control of my own situation.”
Diabetes, which has been linked to Alzheimer’s, was Raia's initial concern, but getting rid of that spare tire may have more far-reaching effects.
Lee Kaplan, MGH: “It turns out, that fat in different parts of the body has different functions and has different implications medically.”
According to a study published in the Journal of Neurology Wednesday, people in their forties, with larger stomachs, excess abdominal fat, have an increased risk for dementia when they reach their seventies.
“Not only does it have a well-known effect on diabetes, heart disease, on stroke, on a variety of cancers, but it also has an affect on the way our brains work.”
Dr. Lee Kaplan, an obesity specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, did not work on the study, but since more than 150 million Americans are overweight or obese, he calls the research very important.
Researchers at Kaiser Permanente in California measured the abdominal fat of more than 6,500 middle-aged people. They followed them for an average of nearly forty years
and found that people who were overweight and had a large belly, were nearly two and a half times more likely to suffer dementia than people with a normal body weight and abdominal fat level. People who were big bellied and obese were at more than a three and a half time risk.
“Failing brains, decreased function, memory problems, thinking problems -- all are increased because of obesity, but if you ask me how the mechanism works, we don't know.”
The study prompts the question --- if I’m younger and have excess weight around my middle...can I lose it now to prevent dementia later on, or has the damage been done?
There are now more than 60 diseases associated with obesity and for many of them we know already that if you reverse the obesity, you fix those diseases. This is too new but it stands to reason that if you get rid of the obesity you solve the problem.
Raia is a family liaison for the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and calls the study good news.
“Because what we're saying, is that a lot of the diseases, including Alzheimer’s, may have an element of control with changes of lifestyle.”
Lifestyle changes that include more fruits and vegetables, mental exercise and doctors say -- most importantly -- physical exercise.
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