Being overweight in midlife can affect cognitive performance
Many studies have shown that being overweight in midlife increases the risk of developing dementia. British scientists critically assessed the results of this study.
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Hearing impairment, inadequate schooling, and smoking . All of these factors increase the risk of developing dementia. The same goes for being overweight in middle age. This was determined by the research team.
They believe that it is theoretically possible to reduce the incidence of dementia by a third if society and individuals work at it.
But if obesity does cause cognitive decline, then why have dementia rates in Western countries fallen in recent decades? , while the number of obese people has increased? Now British scientists have asked this question.
“This is a paradox,” say scientists from University College London. They suggest there may be something strange about the study.
They explain that most analyzes in this area are based on data from so-called observational studies. This type of information collection means that specialists observe a large group of people over a long period of time. This, according to British researchers, is a weak point of the research.
Another problem with the studies is that they almost always study older people, says scientist Scott Chiesa. Researchers observed almost 20 thousand people. There was also a clear link between obesity and cognitive performance in midlife.
“I suspect there is a third factor at play here. Because when the researchers included data on the study participants' childhood cognitive abilities, the relationship disappeared,” Chiesa notes.
This indicates that there is an underlying factor, i.e. cognitive ability in childhood, that influences the development of the disease. Obesity cannot be said to directly cause dementia.
For example, children with lower cognitive abilities often do worse in school and therefore receive less education. According to Chiesa, people's lifestyle is directly related to how many years a person sits in school.
Decline in cognitive ability is also associated with socioeconomic status and parental education. These are also conditions that can affect lifestyle and health behaviors, and therefore the risk of obesity and dementia.
“As we age, our brains take longer to process information. Our cognitive abilities begin to deteriorate long before we reach the age of 50,” explains the scientist.
Chiesa explains to the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet that those who had developed cognitive abilities in childhood have an advantage in terms of developing dementia. They may have more to lose before developing dementia than those with poorer abilities.
The Norwegian-Swedish research team also urges caution when interpreting correlations in dementia studies.
Norwegian researcher Christine Walchowd said that “many of the differences we see among older people are differences that appear early in life.”
So it is not possible to simply scan the brain of a 70-year-old person and determine that he or she is or she has lost a lot of brain tissue. It is impossible to say whether there were significant differences or whether they were there to begin with.
Walchowd explains in an interview that there is much to suggest that intelligence is largely determined genetically.
Many studies have shown that people with higher levels of education are less likely to develop dementia later in life.
Norwegian brain researchers took a closer look at this link and found that education alone is unlikely to have any effect on brain health in old age age.
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