Middle age spread linked to dementia

Middle age spread has been assosciated with higher risks of developing dementia by new research.
Researches have found that a paunch at middle age means that otherwise healthy people are more likely to develop the syndrom assosciated with deterioration of the brain in their old age.

According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated 24.3 million people have some form of dementia with 4.6 million new cases a year.

The study, carried out by the Boston University School of Medicine, has now shown that the disease may be linked to obesity after they found excess weight was assosciated with lower total brain volume.

Dr Sudha Seshadri, who ran the research, said: "Our data suggests a stronger connection between central obesity, particularly the visceral fat component of abdominal obesity, and risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease."

In the largest study of its kind Dr Seshadri and her colleagues studied over 700 participants who had an average age of 60 and compared their BMI, waist circumferance, waist to hip ratio, CT-based measures of abdominal fat, with MRI measures of total brain volume (TCBV), temporal horn volume (THV), white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV) and brain infarcts.

She said: "Our results confirm the inverse association of increasing BMI with lower brain volumes in older adults and with younger, middle-aged adults and extends the findings to a much larger study sample."

Dementia, which can be attributed to irreversible causes like Alzheimer's, vascular dementia, or Huntington's disease or caused by treatable conditions such as brain tumours, can cause a decline in short and long term memory, language processing, problem solving capabilities and other cognitive functions.

Clinical diagnosis of dementia is made when two or more brain functions are significantly impaired.

It is hoped that the findings may result promising prevention stratergies in the future.

Dr. Seshadri said: "Our findings, while preliminary, provide greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying the link between obesity and dementia.

"Further studies will add to our knowledge and offer important methods of prevention."

The results of the study have been published in the Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association.