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Obese People Have 'Severe Brain Degeneration'
LiveScience Staff
LiveScience.com livescience Staff
livescience.com Tue Aug 25, 10:35 am ET
A new study finds obese people have 8 percent less brain tissue than normal-weight individuals. Their brains look 16 years older than the brains of lean individuals, researchers said today.
Those classified as overweight have 4 percent less brain tissue and their brains appear to have aged prematurely by 8 years.
The results, based on brain scans of 94 people in their 70s, represent "severe brain degeneration," said Paul Thompson, senior author of the study and a UCLA professor of neurology.
"That's a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer's and other diseases that attack the brain," said Thompson. "But you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimer's, if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control."
The findings are detailed in the online edition of the journal Human Brain Mapping.
Obesity packs many negative health effects, including increased risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and some cancers. It's also been shown to reduce sexual activity.
More than 300 million worldwide are now classified as obese, according to the World Health Organization. Another billion are overweight. The main cause, experts say: bad diet, including an increased reliance on highly processed foods.
Obese people had lost brain tissue in the frontal and temporal lobes, areas of the brain critical for planning and memory, and in the anterior cingulate gyrus (attention and executive functions), hippocampus (long-term memory) and basal ganglia (movement), the researchers said in a statement today. Overweight people showed brain loss in the basal ganglia, the corona radiata, white matter comprised of axons, and the parietal lobe (sensory lobe).
"The brains of obese people looked 16 years older than the brains of those who were lean, and in overweight people looked 8 years older," Thompson said.
Obesity is measured by body mass index (BMI), defined as the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters. A BMI over 25 is defined as overweight, and a BMI of over 30 as obese.
The research was funded by the National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Center for Research Resources, and the American Heart Association.
Lose the weight you fat idiots or you'll get even more stupid! At least you'll die young and won't have to live like that for very long. Posts: 514 | Registered: Jul 2009
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and ur not so skinny yrself there girl.. u have chimpmok cheeks..
-------------------- your ass is so tight when you fart only a dog can hear it.when you queef only a cat can hear that one. Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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quote:Originally posted by tina kamal: thats bull sh it...
and ur not so skinny yrself there girl.. u have chimpmok cheeks..
You are right I am not skinny, I am lean and healthy though; with good eating habits, plenty of exercise and activity, its only the sleeping habits that are off.
My lovely sister is a size 2-4 and she has those same cheeks, she has a 22 inch waist but still has those chipmonk cheeks.
Still scientific proof that obesity will steal away brain functionality even brain matter. If fatso don't care about their appearance, being accepted socially, having a full & active fun life (you miss out on alot of fun when you are too fat to enjoy life), possibly the loss of intelligence should be a motivation.
Its like alcoholism, a slow suicide.
Posts: 514 | Registered: Jul 2009
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posted
hahaha ya tiger shes callin me fat and look at that fat ass.she has been suckin way too many dics...and eattin way to many nuts they got stuck in the biatches cheeks...
-------------------- your ass is so tight when you fart only a dog can hear it.when you queef only a cat can hear that one. Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
the study doesnt say if obesity causes brain mass loss or if brain mass loss contributes to obesity. It also doesn't say wether it is males or females and if there are other health complications that can contribute to obesity (females have naturally higher fat/body mass ratios).This study has been poorly presented and has little real science to it.
Posts: 195 | From: Nottingham, England | Registered: Jan 2009
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Obese people have smaller brains than their skinny counterparts
By Fiona Macrae Last updated at 7:02 PM on 19th August 2009
Brains could shrink as waistlines expand, scientists have warned.
Parts of the brain key to planning and memory are smaller in obese people than in their lean friends and neighbours.
The difference is so great that their brains appear up to 16 years older than their true age, a study of American pensioners found.
With brain shrinkage linked to dementia, the finding adds weight to the suspicion that piling on the pounds may raise a person's risk of Alzheimer's.
The University of California researchers created 3D maps from brain scans of almost 100 men and women in their 70s.
The heavier volunteers had smaller brains, with regions important for planning and memory particularly likely to be depleted, New Scientist reports.
The brains of the 51 overweight people were on average 6 per cent smaller than those of their normal weight counterparts, while those of the 14 obese volunteers were 8 per cent smaller.
Researcher Paul Thompson said: 'The brains of overweight people looked eight years older than the brains of those who were lean, and 16 years older in obese people.'
Type 2 diabetes, which is common in the overweight, is known to accelerate the ageing of the brain and the onset of dementia.
But the relationship between brain size and weight still stood when the researchers accounted for this, suggesting it is the fat itself that is causing the problem.
It is thought that high levels of fat raise the odds of the arteries clogging up, cutting the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain.
This could brain cells to die and the organ to shrink.
Further work by the same researchers shows exercise protects the brain levels at risk of shrinking, by upping blood flow.
Professor Thompson said: 'The most strenuous kind of exercise can save about the same amount of brain tissue as is lost in the obese.'
He believes that the high demands put on the brain areas used for memory and planning may make them more sensitive than others to changes in oxygen levels.
But others said the link was not clear cut.
Swedish researcher Deborah Gustafson said the brain areas studied are also involved in eating and metabolism.
This means that cell death there, for whatever reason, could lead to people eating more.
'There are not enough longitudinal data available for us to know which is the chicken and which is the egg,' she said.
Posts: 3773 | From: unfinished thought | Registered: Nov 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Stephie_ELH: the study doesnt say if obesity causes brain mass loss or if brain mass loss contributes to obesity. It also doesn't say wether it is males or females and if there are other health complications that can contribute to obesity (females have naturally higher fat/body mass ratios).This study has been poorly presented and has little real science to it.
There are plenty of stupid people who are not obese.
The study was done to show a degenerative progression on the brain from the effects of obesity.
SO its obvious that the subjects brains were scanned before they turned into a tub of lard, and after they turned into a tub of lard.
Using gender as an excuse is rather condescending to women.
Men get different fatty deposits in differ areas of the body than women.
Posts: 514 | Registered: Jul 2009
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