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According to a new study conducted by the University of California in Los Angeles, adding up pounds to your body can lead to the shrinking of brains in older people, which in turn will lead to the development of more cognitive problems.
According to Paul Thompson, brains of elderly obese people had an appearance which was almost 16 years older than the brains of leaner peers.
The research was conducted on 94 people who were in their 70s. The study showed that people who possess higher body mass indexes were the owners of smaller brains on average. The study has also revealed that the frontal and temporal lobes, which play a vital role in planning and memory respectively, are the ones which are the most affected.
Even though it is not clearly known if these people are prone to the risk of developing dementia, a smaller brain is not a good sign, as the destructive processes can lead into the development of dementia.
“The brains of overweight people looked eight years older than the brains of those who were lean, and 16 years older in obese people,” New Scientist quoted Thompson as saying.
According to Thompson, an increase in the body fat increases the risk of developing clogged arteries, which can lead to a decrease in the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain cells. This can further lead to a reduction in metabolism, which could cause brain cell death and the shrinking, which have currently been observed.
He said that exercise protects the very brain regions that had shrunk.
“The most strenuous kind of exercise can save about the same amount of brain tissue that is lost in the obese,” he said.
The findings have been published in journal Human Brain Mapping.
