Thursday, April 14, 2011

Weight and Memory

Studies that associate being overweight/obese with Alzheimer's and other types of dementia are available.  The ones that I have read speak of blood flow as one of the factors - in that, these overweight persons may have high cholesterol and plaque buildup which slows blood flow and high blood pressure which also impacts the circulatory system.  Knowing that studies such as this exist, the newspaper article I just came across makes sense.

This popular press piece refers to a study that I have not reviewed.  It talks about weight loss through surgery which I am not particularly fond of - that being said, one of the "experts" quoted in this story does say that it isn't only about weight, but a healthy lifestyle - eating health promoting foods and exercising (while maintaining a weight that is healthy for you).  Anyway, the study is looking at the inverse of what I began this post with - if there is memory impairment from weight gain - will there be memory improvement from weight loss - curious?

Read the story here.

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