Study Links Middle Age Obesity to Dementia

[JI7]

<The most convincing research so far suggests that being fat in your 40s might raise your risk of developing dementia later in life.

In a study that followed more than 10,000 Californians for almost 30 years, researchers found that the fatter people were, the greater their risk for Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia. The results were published online Friday by the British Medical Journal.

"This adds another major reason for concern about the obesity problem and it now unfolds yet another area where ... we have to say, 'for God's sake, we better get cracking,'" said Philip James, an obesity expert who was not connected with the research and who heads the International Obesity Task Force.

The study data showed that roughly 7 out of 100 normal-weight people developed dementia. Among overweight people, the risk was almost 8 out of 100; and for obese people, it was 9 out of 100.

This latest research comes amid questioning and confusion in the United States over the dangers of being overweight. Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said a new analysis showed that being too fat caused far fewer deaths than previous government estimates. The announcement led to attacks by critics and restaurant-funded groups who say the threat of fat has been hyped by the U.S. officials.>


http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/04/29/ap/headlines/d89oqd9g0.txt

[Maple]

1. I wish they'd draw a line between

a few pounds overweight, plump, obese and grossly obese.

There is a major difference.

If I'm 5 or 10, 15 or 20 lbs overweight that's no big deal.

200 lbs overweight is a different matter, and I don't even want to think about 300 lbs overweight.

'Middle age spread' used to be considered quite normal, and while it isn't anymore, I don't see it as any major crisis of civilization either.
***

I should add, I don't see any connection between body weight and dementia either. That doesn't even seem likely

[wickerwoman]

2. Rubbish science...

I don't buy that it's the obesity itself that contributes to dementia. I think they're both symptoms of the same problem- a lousy diet based on way too many processed foods and meat. Haven't they been finding links between BSE and Alzheimers? God only knows the effect of pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics and genetically modified food on human health (and with Bush in the White House we'll never find out.)

But let's just blame those fat lazy slobs for their illnesses.

[Chicago Democrat]

3. Utter crap....

As if being fat somehow causes dementia... How do they know its not youth obsessed, looks obsessed, anorexic American mass marketing that makes fat people feel bad about themselves and that's why more are insane.

Driven insane by TV and people hating them all the time.

[Ranec]

42. Please don't confuse dementia with insanity.

Dementia is what used to be called "senility" and is usually the result of Alzheimer's but there are other possible causes.

http://www.alz.org/AboutAD/WhatIsAD.asp

[DURHAM D]

4. From personal experience my Mother is 83 and Father is 89 - both

have Alzheimers. They have exercised all of their lives (still do), do not drink or smoke, have always watched their diets, were/are unbelievably curious about learning and life, neither one weighs more than they did when they graducated from high school. They still live independently - get up every morning with nothing to do and go to bed with it only half done and joke about the fact that they have half a brain between them. They still do volunteer work several days a week and have made the schools and government offices where they go work that they are impaired and to let them know when they don't want them to show up anymore.

They have a great sense of humor - thank god - and three children over 60 that are grateful for every day they show us the way. Nothing about this disease makes rational sense.

[Longhorn]

20. Your parents sound like amazing people!

I'm so sorry about the Alzheimers but imagine coping with it like they are -- what an inspiration! I'm glad they have each other and their children. Thanks for sharing! :hug:

[KT2000]

5. What is in the fat tissue?

that is an important question to answer.
Many of the chemicals we are exposed to are stored in fat tissue. They are released into the system under certain circumstances such as stress and weight loss.
Don't think this study is worth much without considering many more things.

[KittyWampus]

14. Thanks For Looking More Deeply Into Possible Implications Here

We are what we eat.

[AndyTiedye]

6. They Base All of this on "Body Mass Index"...

...which makes no distinction between fat and muscle
and is much more generous to tall people.

[hedgehog]

7. Yeah, but admit it

I'm not tall and that ain't muscle. I do agree that the BMI is a poor indicator though.

[Ranec]

43. They also looked at skinfolds

And found a similar relationship.

[rooboy]

8. therefore Rush Limbaugh really is a Big Fat Idiot. n/t

[Gman]

9. I've never known anyone that had/has dementia

that was ever overweight at any point in their life while I knew them.

[BiggJawn]

10. J'Accuse HFCS!

I'm beginning to suspect there may BE something to the idea that High Fructose Corn Sweetner has something to do with obesity, diabetes, and other delightful maladies.

It's everywhere! And I do NOT think it's metabolized the same as Cane or Beet Sugar.

I came across something the other day that was asking why so many people have trouble losing weight on a caloric intake that 60 years ago was considered a War Crime if you gave it to POW's. Yeah, 1500 Calories was considered "starvation". I recall reading in grade school that a man engaged in "moderate labour" (I figured that was warehouse work or the like) NEEDED 3500 Calories a day.

I eat around 2000 calories a day. My BMI is 33, and the magic electronic gizmo say I'm about 28% fat. In warm weather I ride my bicycle between 50 and 100 iles a week, and I ride at a decent clip, too. I see my weight flucuate +/- 10 seasonally, no more. It just won't come OFF!

Frankenfood is making us fat, and i'll bet the Frankenfood has a WHOLE lot more to do with us being sick than us being fat does.

But-it's easier to say "You're too fat, you need to lose weight" than it is to say "Uh, maybe we should take this stuff off the market?"

Just like Rumsferatu's fast-tracking of Aspartame...

Soylent Green is available NOW at your Grocer's!

[bleedingheart]

15. While that may not be the case I am not sure

my brother-in-laws parents were the "all-natural" kind of people...no processed foods ever! They were into vitamins and health and fitness before it became the fashion...and yet both of them got alzheimers..in fact at his dad's funeral some of their friends remarked that for how "healthy" they ate it was really freakish that both of them would get alzheimers and at the same time.

I recall eating at their home as a child and it was the first time I met people who drank tea without sugar...and they made pies with this natural sugar that actually tasted more tart and natural...

[BiggJawn]

19. But were they obese?

Obesity is the modern catch-all. got dementia? Got organ cancer? got sexual disfunction? well, drop about 30 pounds and watch those problems magically disappear!

I've known a few people who were coming off their spools as they aged, too. None of them were overweight.

[bleedingheart]

23. not obese...

in fact they were kind of snobby and "weight-bigots"...they used to get on my sister's case all the time about her weight.

Meanwhile my mom is 73, is a bit overweight, but has all her mental faculties still...

[DARE to HOPE]

28. We have been into "healthy" food and vitamins, too, for years, BUT...

I have just discovered in the last year and a half that SOY MILK and SOY CHEESE et al, which I ate in abundance, due to my dairy allergy, SOY destroys the thyroid gland, which affects everything, including the brain! (Turns out that the Japanese ferment their soy, which addresses this problem, much like we cook thyroid-choking vegetables like cabbage and broccoli.)


Also, here we had thought CANOLA OIL was so healthy! It turns out to cause the same damage, if not worse, to the heart and brain that corn and soy oil do! (It is in every baked good in the health food store. Cold pressed safflower, sunflower oils also all get oxidized in the body!)


I had tried and TRIED to eat healthy for thirty years--but the fats make all the difference! We now eat free range chicken and eggs (high in omega-3's) grass fed beef and butter when we can get it (Kerrygold butter from Ireland) and vegetables and fruits with coconut oil and coconut milk, also a can of sardines or anchovies every so often, and FINALLY FEEL HEALTHY!! After thirty years of books like "Laurel's Kitchen!"


Also, losing weight effortlessly--35 pounds since October. Brain and eyes the sharpest they have been in the last five years!

[Missy Vixen]

36. My naturopath told me this several years ago

>I have just discovered in the last year and a half that SOY MILK and SOY CHEESE et al, which I ate in abundance, due to my dairy allergy, SOY destroys the thyroid gland, which affects everything, including the brain<

I have a dead thyroid. As a result, I paid a visit to the naturopath to attempt to feel better. He repeatedly told me that soy has a very negative effect on the thyroid and will even interfere with the daily med I take to replace those hormones. Just like the omnipresent HFCS, soy is everywhere these days. I just don't think it's the cure-all it's touted to be.

On a happier note, congratulations on losing 35 pounds! Good for you!

Julie

[musiclawyer]

37. What soy is fermented ?

I think I know but want to hear others chime in

[BiggJawn]

40. Miso and Shoyu

I don't think Edamame is fermented, at least the stuff I eat doesn't smell or taste that way.
And Tofu is not fermented, either.

[DARE to HOPE]

11. I'll bet it is a low thyroid causing both....

I believe our epidemics in both obesity and depression have to do with the change in fats in our diets since the early 1900's. Omega-3's were plentiful in the grass fed beef, butter and lard everyone ate then. Since feeding our livestock corn and soy (marbles them nicely) as well as us (these oils are in everything) the omega-6 fatty acids out number the omega-3's.

The result is a fat, sluggish, depressed population. And the damage these oils do to the heart and arteries is replicated in the brain. My own Dad went from depression right into dementia. He was only a few pounds overweight, but had been a smoker for a number of years. But the artery problems he had were legion, in fact, you can see the damage from fats on the skin. All the "age spots" are really oxidized unsaturated fatty acids, which do a great deal of damage in the body, especially to the thyroid.

If only I had known about coconut oil then, as well as sardines and anchovies.

[happyslug]

12. Cause and Affect, or Affect and Affect?

Does being over-weight in your 40s lead to dementia in your dotage? Or is that fact you are inactive in your 40s (Both Physically and mentally) lead to being overweight and dementia? i.e. You slow down and become less active and that slow down just manifests itself in the form of being overweight in your 40s and dementia in your 80s.

Other studies have shown it is INACTIVITY that leads to BOTH problems. Thus the "Cause" may be the lack of activity and what you are seeing are two affects, being overweight in your 40s and dementia in your 80s. Thus merely being overweight in your 40s does NOT lead to dementia in and by itself and the "solution" is not to get people to lose weight BUT to get people active both mentally and physically.

[Bridget Burke]

27. Or Effect?

Is the early slowing down that might lead to obesity a clue that dementia is beginning?

Serious studies on diet & exercise might help. But drug companies are only going to finance studies involving drugs--which might help, but aren't the only answer.

So--shouldn't the government use some of our tax dollars against this most dreadful disease? No, the government is too busy funding unnecessary wars, arming for the next wars & giving tax cuts to the rich.

[happyslug]

30. Should, go lobby your Congressman to get it done

Lyndon Johnson made the comment NOTHING GETS DONE IN WASHINGTON UNLESS IT IS LOBBIED FOR. Thus to get such a study funded you have to lobby both Congress (who controls spending) and the FDA (which controls testing).

[slackmaster]

34. My weight does affect my affect somewhat

I feel a little better about myself and more confident when I'm below 200 pounds.

[bleedingheart]

13. Absolute Rubbish!

I am so sorry but I know of at least 5 cases where the individuals who had dementia were in fact very slender and yet still got Alzheimers.

1. My BIL's father, was a slender man...probably weighed no more than 150 all his life and was 6' tall. He got dementia.
2. My BIL's mother has weighed no more than 110 lbs and she has it.
3-4. My hubby's grandparents were both very slender people and both of them got Alzheimers...
5. My mother's neighbor just diagnosed with Alzheimers is as slender as a pole..has always been...(sadly they put a special lock system on the house to keep him from wandering)....

[DARE to HOPE]

18. It's the fats, it's the fats, it's the fats, it's the FATS, folks!

If you want to strengthen your BRAIN, your EYES, your BONES, your HEALTH...

THROW OUT the corn, the soy, the canola oil! Use virgin coconut oil to cook with, coconut milk, grass fed beef and butter IF you can get it (Kerrygold from Ireland is grass raised)--add a can of sardines or anchovies a week, or cod liver oil.

Add more fruits and vegetables and lay off the sugar. We make "ice cream" from frozen organic mango, strawberries and coconut milk. Yum.

No kidding--the corn and soy oils are DESTRUCTIVE to the brain as well as to the thyroid, and likely cause the plaques. They also make you so sluggish you don't WANT to exercise.

Get this--if you heal your thyroid, using the coconut oil, it actually changes any excess cholesterol into DHEA and pregnolone, both anti-aging hormones folks have been taking in pill form from the health food store. And it makes you thin and energized.

I am shocked and saddened by your list of family and friends who have suffered dementia. It is a very sad disease, I know from my own Dad. My heart goes out to you.

[HuckleB]

24. Links?

I'm wondering if you can link us to some studies to support your claims, some of which I agree with, others of which I am skeptical.

[DARE to HOPE]

33. Just Google "coconut health"

Also, here are a couple:

http://www.coconut-connections.com/

http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/skinny.html

Also, Bruce Fife, ND, has pulled the research together in a book called "The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil"


As you'll discover at the Weston A. Price Website, what we have been told for 50 years about saturated fats has been backwards. Price was a dentist from Cleveland who noticed the dissolution of dental health in the young patients he treated (from the 1930's into the 1950's)--he decided to travel around the world, and kept notes about the indigenous diets and corresponding dental health.

Lo and behold, saturated fats are a staple for human health. Oils are a product of the industrial age. It turns out that corn oil and soy oil are truly damaging to our cells. I read that the cell walls of each cell are made up of fats, so they are wobbly, unstable, and open to oxidation if they are unsaturated oils. The omega-3 filled lard and butter and beef our great grandparents ate gave them strong teeth, strong bones, strong heart and eyes, and strong brains.

Turns out that the coconut's medium chain fatty acids (lots to see in the NIH files about these) decrease one's need for both omega-3's and B vitamins--in other words, a little of each goes a lot farther to heal.

[bleedingheart]

25. numbers 1 and 2 on my list were healthy before healthy was cool

and still they got Alzheimers...

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

39. You don't have to be fat to have hypercholesterolemia or other conditions.

Physical weight is a risk factor for the true problems of AD risk (e.g., hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, lipidemia, etc.).

AD is a condition that can develop for many different reasons and appears to be a polygenetic disease with multiple environmental risk factors.

Being fat doesn't doom you, it only increases the risk for factors associated with AD development.

JB (Ph.D. AD Researcher)

[AuntiBush]

16. They should do a study on what Bush has done to us!

Talk about something causing dementia!

:argh:

[lumpy]

17. Anyone have a site for

the weekly wacky study/research results?

[yodermon]

21. blah.

Once again a pop science article that mistakes correlation for causation.

[yo-yo-ma]

22. a little hard to believe

in that age is the biggest risk factor for dementia and obesity is associated with earlier mortality

i couldn't get the link to link to the article

[jimbot]

26. I am always a bit leary...

When someone takes a perfectly good continuous variable (like pounds overweight) and changes it to a categorical variable to find significance.
Boggle.
--JT

[yo-yo-ma]

29. i doubt the research methods were that devious

without reading the article it's hard to say what the methodology was

they could have run a predictive model (with bmi as a continuous variable) and plugged in either the mean or the cut points for overweight and obese to get predicted odds which were then translated into this 8 out of 100 rate

you are correct to state that dichotomizing (or "ordinalizing"?) a continuous variable results in the loss of something - but i think it is power and precision that is lost - i don't think that this transformation increases the likelihood of a statistically significant finding

[jimbot]

45. It depends how the categories were created.

You are probably right...I did go back and look for the article (the current link is dead) and found that the study is forthcoming in the British Medical Journal online, which I assume is a refereed journal.
However, it is possible to not have significance using a continuous independent variable and "cherry-pick" the categories when changing it to a categorical/ordinal variable and then have significance.
The reviewers for the BMJ would have caught this if it happened.
--JT

[yo-yo-ma]

47. yes, true, cherry picking

totally possible to create significance that way - however, with bmi they would have to have used the cutpoint that define the categories of averweight and obese (>=35 for obese) so i don't think that cherry picking could have been possible here

and cherry picking would be devious, unethical , etc . . .

[slackmaster]

31. Everyone knows that people of size are jolly, not demented

:dunce:

[CO Liberal]

32. Exhibit A: Rush Limbaugh

Exhibit B: Sean Hannity is gaining weight.

:-)

[wildflower]

35. I'd bet this regards the relationship of central obesity to heart disease.

Most non-Alzheimer's dementia is caused by vascular problems such as successive small strokes (TIAs).

And as research has shown, people who gain weight around the middle are more likely to have cardiovascular disease (I believe this is related to interactions of insulin, cortisol, triglycerides, etc.).

And I know that scientists are now starting to discover that some of the same risk factors for vascular dementia are risk factors in Alzheimer's as well. So I wasn't surprised to see Alzheimer's included in this article.

That's my take on it, anyway; I was unable to access the full article (broken link?)

-wildflower

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

38. Cholesterol. Correlative relationship with hidden mediator variable.

Cholesterol levels are clearly a risk factor for AD and overweight people tend to have higher "bad" cholesterol levels.

JB

[Ranec]

41. (deleted by me)

On edit: I just found the article, and it seems that they controlled for diabetes, stroke and heart disease. So just ignore what I said originally.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

44. oh so pres reagan was a fat bastard then?

[TheCentepedeShoes]

46. Since Bush doesn't appear to be overweight

what's his excuse?