Obesity link to dementia
Heavier weight in middle age may mean a higher risk of later dementia, according to a report in the journal Neurology. Overweight adults were observed to score more poorly on tests of memory, attention and learning than those who weighed less.
The researchers speculated that higher rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes might explain the link but that it was possible that substances produced by fat cells, such as the hormone leptin, could have direct effects on the brain.
Both obesity and dementia were becomingly increasingly common, the French study observed.
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