NEW YORK, March 26, 2008
Fat Belly Linked To Dementia
Having A Big Belly In Middle Age Raises Risk For Alzheimer's Decades Later, Study Says
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Play CBS Video Video Big Bellies Linked To Dementia If you need another reason to keep your stomach trim, chew on this: researchers have found that a bulging belly in your 40s raises your risk of dementia later in life. Ben Tracy reports.
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(CBS/AP)
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Interactive Losing Memories Facts about Alzheimer's, help for caregivers and a look at sufferers who've put the disease in the spotlight.
It's not just about your weight. While previous research has found evidence that obesity in middle age raises the chances of developing dementia later, the new work found a separate risk from storing a lot of fat in the abdomen. Even people who weren't overweight were susceptible.
That abdominal fat, sometimes described as making people apple-shaped rather than pear-shaped, has already been linked to higher risk of developing diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
"Now we can add dementia to that," said study author Rachel Whitmer of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.
She and others report the findings in Wednesday's online issue of the journal Neurology.
The study involved 6,583 men and women who were ages 40 to 45 when they had checkups between 1964 and 1973. As part of the exam, their belly size was measured by using a caliper to find the distance between their backs and the surface of their upper abdomens. For the study, a distance of about 10 inches or more was considered high.
The researchers checked medical records to see who had developed Alzheimer's or another form of dementia by an average of 36 years later. At that point the participants were ages 73 to 87. There were 1,049 cases.
Analysis found that compared to people in the study with normal body weight and a low belly measurement:
Sherry Jackson is struggling with her weight and says the fear of dementia is new motivation to drop some pounds, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.
"Hearing the study really hit home for me," Jackson said. "It really made me realize that if there's something I can do about it now, I wanna do it."
Whitmer said there's no precise way to translate belly measurements into waist circumference. But most people have a sense of whether they have a big belly, she said. And if they do, the new study suggests they should get rid of it, she said.
It's not clear why abdominal fat would promote dementia, but it may pump out substances that harm the brain, she said.
Dr. Jose Luchsinger of the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, who studies the connection between obesity and Alzheimer's disease but didn't participate in the new work, cautioned that such a study cannot prove abdominal fat promotes dementia.
But the study results are "highly plausible" and "I'm not surprised at all," he said. High insulin levels might help explain them, he said.
Dr. Samuel Gandy, who chairs the medical and scientific advisory council of the Alzheimer's Association, said the results fit in with previous work that indicates a person's characteristics in middle age can affect the risk of dementia in later life.
And it's another example of how traits associated with the risk of developing heart disease are also linked to later dementia, he said.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 28 CommentsHa (ok, so it''s anorexia...still, I won''t have to worry about losing my mind).
Ha (ok, so it''s anorexia...still, I won''t have to worry about losing my mind).
TX
No, you don''t seem to. But having less than 20% body fat can still mean 19% and that''s still kind of high.
What I read out of the article is body SHAPE is more important than body FAT. If the fat you do have is stored around the hips, butt or upper thighs you''re probably going to be all right. If it''s all hiding underneath your tee shirt....Well....
But I''m chiming in for another reason as well. Like coppertales, I don''t fit the stereotype of an overweight man either. I am a shade under 5 feet 9 inches and weigh around 170-172 pounds. According to that (adjective) BMI scale that the health care industry is so enamored with, I come in with a reading of 25.5. That makes me overweight! Last time I checked it, I was carrying about 9% body fat. I can''t speak for coppertales but if I have any visceral fat there isn''t enough of it to measure. Yet I''m still considered a health risk. Go figure...
http://www.naturalhealthgro
up.org
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Posted by m4surveys
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HOW ABOUT A BEER BELLY? BEER IS MADE FROM GRAIN!
ISN''T THAT VEGETATION? DUHHHHHH!
Posted by pollroller1 at 09:21 AM : Mar 27, 2008
That''s because our bellies are too big. If we lost some weight, we would see that it was all our own fault.
Posted by Extremophil at 10:14 AM : Mar 27, 2008
It''s not that skinny people are smart, it''s that fat people are dumb. But at least they are fat, dumb, and happy!
Now we have to wonder if dropping the weight when one is older and has had belly fat for a long time is going to help, or if the damage has already been done. Time for more studies......thank goodness my own stomach is concave!
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