The brains of obese people show brain atrophy similar to that found in people with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study.
A research team led by Professor Philip Morris of the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (The Neuro: Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) at McGill University in Canada published a study that found similarities between the brains of obese people and those with dementia, Internet edition of NBC said News in the United States, reported on the 1st.
Analysis of 1,300 brain scan images from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) and UK Biobank databases revealed that obese people and dementia patients have better learning, memory and judgment functions in the area of the brain responsible for the brain is similarly thinned and atrophied, the research team said.
The thinning of the brain region may reflect a reduction in the number of brain cells, the researchers noted.
In other words, the research team explained that the thickness of the cerebral cortex, a collection of nerve cells located on the surface of the brain, is reduced.
The cerebral cortex is responsible for higher brain functions such as language, perception, long-term memory, and judgment.
However, the obese people did not show significant deficits on tests of cognitive function.
The research team speculated that this may be because subtle changes in cognitive function associated with atrophy shown in brain imaging cannot be captured by cognitive function tests that evaluate mental function.
Commenting on the findings, Sabrina Diano, director of the Human Nutrition Institute at Columbia University Medical Center, said that obese people and people with dementia share smaller areas of area due to neurodegeneration, which was previously unknown, she said was true.
Dr Joseph Malone, a neurologist in the Department of Cognitive Disorders at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said the lack of memory decline in obese people could be because, as the research team interpreted, it was a very early stage of dementia.
Linda Van Horn, professor of nutrition at Northwestern University, hopes that losing weight will prevent or reduce these degenerative changes in the brain, but evidence is growing that there are points of no return. For example, osteoporosis is irreversible. oh
In the West, a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5 to 24.9 is normal, 25 to 29.9 is overweight, 30 to 34.9 is obese, 35 to 39.9 is very obese, and 40 or more is classified very obese
BMI is the weight (kg) divided by the square of the height (m).
The findings were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
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