Research says obesity in middle age can increase risk of dementia in later life

A new research says that obesity in the middle age can significantly increase the risk of developing dementia in later life and this can also affect the cognitive ability earlier then assumed previously.

The study also shows that a growing body of evidence that overweight and obese adults are more likely to develop dementia like the Alzheimer’s disease.

About more than 6,400 adults aged between 39 and 63 took part in the on-going study published in the journal Neurology Today.

The researchers also examined the cognitive function and body mass index as also the conditions associated with obesity like high blood pressure.

The obesity was found to have an increasingly negative impact on the performance in the memory and reasoning tests over a 12-year period.

Meanwhile, a similar study last year found that people who are obese in the middle age are nearly four times more likely to develop dementia. Similar study last year found that people who are obese in the middle age are nearly four times more likely to develop dementia.

Jessica Smith, a research officer for the Alzheimer’s Society said, “A picture is building up to suggest that dementia is linked to weight in mid-life.” Mr. Smith also said, “We all know that piling on the pounds is bad for your physical health, but this robust study suggests it is bad for the head as well as the heart. Anything that reduces blood flow to the brain, like the high blood pressure associated with obesity, could increase the risk of dementia later in life.”

According to research by the Alzheimer’s Society has shown that 800, 000 people in UK presently have a form of dementia, more than half of them Alzheimer’s and in less than 10 years of time that number is projected to increase to 1 million.

The number of obese people in the world could reach 700 million by 2015 and the link to dementia can lead urgency to the worldwide efforts to tackle what is the growing health problem, states the study.

Mr. Smith suggests, that once in three people over the age of 65 will die with some form of dementia. She also said, the best way to reduce the risk of developing dementia is to eat a balanced diet, maintain healthy weight and exercise regularly and get the blood pressure and cholesterol checked.