A novel study has found that middle aged people who are overweight but not come under the category of obese are more prone to develop dementia by up to seventy-one percent in comparison to those with a normal weight. The earlier studies have already indicated an association between obesity and dementia.
Dementia is an umbrella term recounting a severe worsening in mental functioning like memory, language, orientation and judgment. There are various types, but Alzheimer’s disease that comprises for two third of total cases is the most renowned. About one out of every twenty people above the age of sixty-five has dementia.
A healthy lifestyle could diminish the risk, stated the Alzheimer’s Society. The researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm carried out a study over eight thousand and five hundred Swwedish twins. Those with a BMI (body mass index), which evaluates weight compared with height, greater than thirty were classified as obese.
Those with higher BMI more than thirty were two hundred and eighty-eight percent more prone to develop dementia in comparison to those with a BMI between twenty and twenty-five found the study. The clinically overweight, who have a BMI between twenty and thirty were seventy-one percent more prone to develop the condition.
According to lead author Dr Weili Xu, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, they found in this study that being overweight is also a risk for dementia later in life. The risk is not as considerable as for obese, but it has public health importance because there is large number of people worldwide who are overweight.
This robust study adds to the large body of substantiation which advocates that if you pile on the pounds in middle age, your chances of developing dementia later in life are also increased. By eating healthily and exercising regularly, you can lessen your risk of developing dementia, explained Dr Susanne Sorensen head of research, from Alzheimer’s Society.
The study was published in the journal Neurology. It is probable that dementia is occurred due to a complicated mix of genetic, environmental and lifestyle aspects. However, they still need to know much more about the causes of dementia if they are to find an effective treatment that is so desperately required, stated Dr Simon Ridley from Alzheimer’s Research UK.