Obesity Accelerates Memory Loss in Men.
UNITED KINDOM
obesity causes men to lose their memory a decade before women, research shows.
A team at Imperial College London, studied middle-aged adults with risk factors for dementia that included obesity, high blood pressure and type-2 diabetes.
Brain scans revealed men’s brains were more susceptible to the damaging effects of poor heart health, putting them at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease from an earlier age.
In overweight men, brain volume and function began to decline between the ages of 55 and 74, while overweight women were most susceptible between the ages of 65 and 74.
previous research has proven that adults with heart disease or obesity are significantly more likely to get dementia, which is thought to be linked to inflammation and poor blood supply to the brain.
The new study, which involved 34,000 adults in the UL Biobank, is the first to show how poor cardiovascular health impacts the brains of different sexes at different ages. Participants were aged from 45 t 82 and the volume and weight of their brains was monitored with scans over several years.
The scans showed that higher levels of belly fat were associated with smaller brain volume, but that this effect was stronger in men than women.
The study, led by professor Paul Edison of the department of Brain Sciences at Imperial, said doctors should intervene early to help prevent dementia and ” target cardiovascular risk and obesity a decade earlier in males”.
His team said the new generation of GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs, including Ozempic and Mounjaro, could be ” repurposed ” to help treat Alzheimer’s.
Research suggests that 45% of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed through improved lifestyles, such as lost weight, doing more exercise or giving up smoking
