Don’t shrink your brain — keep slim

Don’t shrink your brain — keep slim


We all have incentive enough to keep slim and in good shape. It’s healthy for the heart. You’ll look and feel better. And people who aren’t overweight can stave off chronic conditions such as Type 2 diabetes.

Let’s add another reason for keeping fit: Your brain won’t shrink.

A study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease that looked at detailed brain scans of more than 17,000 people found blood flow to the brain became progressively diminished the more overweight and obese they are. The subjects ranged in age from 18 to 94.

That reduced blood flow is bad news for the brain’s health, shrinking it and heightening the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and mental illness, such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

This blood flow restriction happened in different parts of the brain, especially those known to be vulnerable to Alzheimer’s. Researchers say those regions included the temporal and parietal lobes, hippocampus, posterior and others.

The analysis, one of the most-detailed of its type ever undertaken, involved more than 35,000 functional brain scans that measured blood flow and brain activity while subjects were at rest or while they performed a task involving concentration.

These findings are especially alarming in the United States, where an estimated 72% of people are considered overweight and 42% are obese.

But the study’s authors say it’s never too late to make things better. Lose weight. Exercise. Eat a healthy diet. They say all of these basic steps can help reverse bad lifestyle trends. And that has the added benefit of leading to a longer and happier life, one in which your paunch, but not your brain, could shrink.

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