Research Finds That Obesity May Increase Risk of D
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Obesity has become so prevalent in America’s population in recent years that a significant portion of the population is considered obese. The condition is associated with a variety of poor health outcomes such as type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, severe COVID symptoms, hypertension, osteoarthritis and heart failure.
Investigators at McGill University have now revealed that suffering from obesity could also increase your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in the future. The study adds to a growing body of neuroimaging studies that found possible gray matter density reductions in the brains of people struggling with obesity. The study also found that excessive weight gain can result in neurodegeneration in obese patients as well as significantly increase their risk of cognitive decline.
As such, obese people are encouraged to make lifestyle adjustments that allow them to lose excess weight and keep it off to help protect them from the ravages of dementia as they grow older.
This research comes at a time when rates of obesity have been rising in not just America but across the world, with the condition being primarily caused by too much eating coupled with minimal to zero physical activity. It is also caused by the proliferation of engineered junk foods, aggressive marketing by junk food producers and, insulin resistance due to an increasingly Western diet, sugar, and certain medications.
Genetics is also a key factor in the development of obesity, with children of obese people being much more susceptible to excess weight gain compared to the children of nonobese people.
Given that obesity is known to increase the risk of several comorbidities, the investigators wanted to understand the neural mechanisms associated with obesity. They found that obesity and excess accumulation of fat in the body has an effect on the brain. More specifically, obesity affected cognitive function by increasing insulin resistance and impacting hormone regulation, inflammation and glucose metabolism. This in turn led to the deterioration of brain cells and their function.
In a previous study, which prompted the scientists to carry out their own study, the researchers used neural imaging to reveal that both Alzheimer’s patients and people with obesity had brain cell loss and brain atrophy.
Adopting healthier lifestyle habits such as eating less processed foods, exercising more, and reducing stress could impact brain health positively and prevent the development of dementia.
The study underscored the need for clean and healthy living to protect not only our bodies from the effects of obesity but our minds as well.
For individuals who are already suffering from Alzheimer’s, devices such as those from MetAlert Inc. (OTC: MLRT) can ease the task of monitoring the movements of affected persons so that they don’t get in harm’s way accidentally.
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