In a new study US researchers have found that a woman’s body shape could affect on her memory. Women who have surplus fat around their hips are more likely to have difficulty in remembering things than those having fat on their waists. The team from Northwestern Medicine found that apple shaped women fared better than pears on cognitive tests.
The type of fat women typically deposited on the hips is the reason behind, pear-shaped women experienced more memory problems than apple shaped women. Fat discharges hormones known as cytokines which may cause inflammation and can hinder the memory and mental abilities. Different fats discharge different cytokines which have different effects on levels of cholesterol, insulin resistance and blood pressure.
They need to find whether one kind of fat is more harmful than other and how it affects functioning of the brain. The fat can contribute to the formation of plaques connected with Alzheimer’s disease or a restricted blood flow to the brain, said lead researcher Dr Diana Kerwin.
The study was carried out by researchers from Northwestern University, Chicago that include nine thousand women aged from sixty-five to seventy-nine. This was the first study to show link between obesity and mental abilities among healthy older women. These women were asked to complete a memory test which experts use to judge functioning of the brain.
These women were also weighed and measured and scored on an obesity scale called BMI (Body Index Mass). Over one third were overweight. Researchers revealed that for every one point increase in a woman’s BMI, her memory score dropped by one point. The pear-shaped women with smaller waists but bigger hips particularly scored poorly.
Researchers explained that it was likely to be associated to the type of fat deposited around the hips. The link between obesity and memory was clear.