Obese People Have Less Brain Tissue

[The Straight Story]

Obese People Have Less Brain Tissue
A new study looks at odd effects of obesity

According to a new scientific study, people who are obese tend to have up to eight percent less brain tissue than others of average weight. The paper also reveals that the brains of obesity patients also seem to be more than 16 years older than those of leaner people the same age as theirs. The results have also maintained in the case of those who are not considered obese, but overweight. They show a four-percent brain tissue loss, and a premature aging level equivalent to eight years. The results are detailed in the latest online issue of the journal Human Brain Mapping.

The results were obtained after experts from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), led by Professor of Neurology and senior study author Paul Thompson, analyzed brain scans belonging to 94 people in their late 70s, LiveScience reports. “That's a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer's and other diseases that attack the brain. But you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimer's, if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control,” he explains.

The most affected brain areas, the experts say, were identified in the frontal and temporal lobes, which are areas regularly associated with memory and planning. Attention and executive functions, long-term memory and movement abilities are also adversely affected by the tissue loss. The findings have serious implications for a large number of people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some 300 million individuals are obese, with an additional one billion being overweight. The trend is largely due to the fact that more and more people consume highly processed foods.

The UCLA scientists used an advanced imaging technique for learning where all the major discrepancies in neuron numbers between normal and obese participants appeared. They learned that the basal ganglia, the corona radiata, the white matter comprised of axons, and the parietal lobe were most affected, each of them registering a considerable loss. However, some critics reveal that there is no way of saying for sure that the brain tissue indeed degenerated, mostly because the experts don't have brain scans belonging to the same patients from, say, two or three decades ago, for comparison.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Obese-People-Have-Less-Brain-Tissue-120117.shtml

[WI_DEM]

1. What was Bush's excuse?

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Motown_Johnny]

15. bush was and still is a moron, his IQ can't be within 50 points of President Obama's-

it is progressive to tell the truth

Bush Is An Idiot!!!

[WI_DEM]

16. Wow 2-posts--you're already showing your spots.

[sharp_stick]

17. Why waste a cool name

like lordhelmet on a trollfest that won't last the fucking day?

[boobooday]

Bush was a legacy admission

AKA Affirmative Action for rich white guys.

[tabasco]

18. Hahahahahahahaha!

Respect is earned, idiot freeper.

Bush got in on a legacy admission and skated through with "gentlemens" C's.

Obama got into Harvard from nowhere and became editor of the law review.

If you can't tell the difference, you're stupid, but I already knew that.

[demigoddess]

20. I have a retarded daughter who is smarter than Bush, Laura bush and

all of the bushes together. She (without prompting) knows that babies are precious and should be taken care of. Never saw that out of bush

[wilt the stilt]

13. Rush-N/T

[City of Mills]

2. I don't know what to say

That's weird.

[Javaman]

3. ...

:popcorn:

[The Straight Story]

5. If I wasn't overweight I could think of a snarky reply

:rofl:

[Red State Rebel]

22. OK, that made me snort!

[mzmolly]

30. Ha!

Good one!

[DebbieCDC]

4. I would think people in their late 70's would have less brain tissue - possibly a product of aging

Have they checked brain tissue of younger obese people?

[hlthe2b]

6. Of course, so too do thin individuals who drink heavily or take certain

drugs, or have certain genetic predisposition to pre-senile dementia, or.............

of course, that won't stop those who like to discriminate against the obese or overweight.

[Barack_America]

7. I think this study just focused on obesity.

And I'm assuming the control would have been non-overweight individuals.

So this study should just be looking at the risks posed by obesity, rather than drugs, drinking, etc.

[hlthe2b]

29. Yes... of course.. But, the issue is how the findings are perceived...

For those who want another hammer to aim at the overweight and obese, I simply point out that similar findings would be documented in alcohol and medication-abusing thin individuals, those who have genetic predispositio to hypercholesterolemia and arterial plagues, and other genetic factors.

[tabatha]

8. It is probably food related

and some of those foods are fattening, and some are not.

[soleft]

9. Yeah, that Buddha was such an idiot!

[NickB79]

14. No, he was very smart (and also thin)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080120135557AA3K0MU

"The little fat guy is not a representation of Buddha. His name was P'utai and he was a Chan(Chinese Zen) Buddhist monk. He is often depicted as being fat and happy because even though he lived an ascetic lifestyle he found freedom through the teachings of Buddha."

[LaydeeBug]

10. so what happens if you lose the weight?

I'm already overweight, so I guess it's a lost cause, and I should go have some more apple danish.

[Lex]

11. Which is why Ann Coulter is extry-smart!

[BuelahWitch]

19. So that means our Ted had less brain tissue than Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin eh?

Sorry, sounds like bullshit science to me.

[Motown_Johnny]

21. IQ and the amount of brain tissue are not the same thing, You could then argue that small people

are less intelligent than large people because large people have more brain tissue



the article says

"The most affected brain areas, the experts say, were identified in the frontal and temporal lobes, which are areas regularly associated with memory and planning."


It does not say their IQ is lower

[Skidmore]

23. Well, one thing is obvious, that the stage is being set so that

it is alright to discriminate against people based on weight moreso than is already done. It wouldn't surprise me if before long a person who does not fit a certain body type profile cannot get a job or insurance. Think about it. The insurance companies will be forced to take on a whole lot of people they have been forcing out of care. What better way to go after them than to make it illegal to be one.

Now that the profit is being taken out of maintaining an illness illness business model, what sorts of draconian measures will be taken to make certain that a profit can be made on wellness.

[FarCenter]

24. As Waistlines Widen, Brains Shrink

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/08/25/as-waistlines-widen-brains-shrink.html
<snip>
"The brains of obese people looked 16 years older than their healthy counterparts while overweight people looked 8 years older," said UCLA neuroscientist Paul Thompson, senior author of a study published online in Human Brain Mapping.

Much of the lost tissue was in the frontal and temporal lobe regions of the brain, the seat of decision-making and memory, among other things.
<snip>
The researchers studied brain images of 94 people in their 70s who had participated in an earlier study looking at cardiovascular health and cognition. None of the participants had dementia or other cognitive impairments. They were followed for five years, and any volunteers who developed cognitive symptoms were excluded from the study.

Clinically obese people had 8 percent less brain tissue, while the overweight had 4 percent less brain tissue compared to normal-weight individuals.

Dr. Jonathan Friedman, an associate professor of surgery and neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine noted that the causal relationship here is not clear. Theoretically, he said, a smaller brain might mean appetite and weight-control centers of the brain are actually propelling the weight-gain process.

Thompson believes it may be a vicious cycle. "Each one is contributing to the other," he said. A person's genetics may be contributing to overeating and weight gain, which leads to less activity, which leads to a shortfall in the oxygen and nutrients that the brain needs to thrive and grow.
<snip>

[FarCenter]

25. Abstract - "Brain structure and obesity"

Obesity is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular health problems including diabetes, hypertension, and stroke. These cardiovascular afflictions increase risk for cognitive decline and dementia, but it is unknown whether these factors, specifically obesity and Type II diabetes, are associated with specific patterns of brain atrophy. We used tensor-based morphometry (TBM) to examine gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volume differences in 94 elderly subjects who remained cognitively normal for at least 5 years after their scan. Bivariate analyses with corrections for multiple comparisons strongly linked body mass index (BMI), fasting plasma insulin (FPI) levels, and Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM2) with atrophy in frontal, temporal, and subcortical brain regions. A multiple regression model, also correcting for multiple comparisons, revealed that BMI was still negatively correlated with brain atrophy (FDR <5%), while DM2 and FPI were no longer associated with any volume differences. In an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) model controlling for age, gender, and race, obese subjects with a high BMI (BMI > 30) showed atrophy in the frontal lobes, anterior cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, and thalamus compared with individuals with a normal BMI (18.5-25). Overweight subjects (BMI: 25-30) had atrophy in the basal ganglia and corona radiata of the WM. Overall brain volume did not differ between overweight and obese persons. Higher BMI was associated with lower brain volumes in overweight and obese elderly subjects. Obesity is therefore associated with detectable brain volume deficits in cognitively normal elderly subjects. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Unfortunately, it is a Wiley journal, so it is not free.

[PVnRT]

26. This will go well. Might as well keep it kicked for entertainment value.

[Tutankhamun]

27. Maybe people with less brain tissue like to overeat.

Maybe it's the lack of brain tissue causing the obesity and not the other way around.

[Zodiak]

28. Another piece of science destroyed by a science journalist

The journalist implies that more neurons = smarter, but doesn't say one way or another....the paper itself is clear that there were not cognitive differences between the groups.

All subjects in this experiment were cognitively normal. In other words, there was no difference in intelligence.

So who cares how many neurons? That means diddly.

What does matter for intelligence and function is how those neurons are networked together...how many CONNECTIONS are there determine that.

By the way, Einstein had an unusually small brain...a full 250 grams smaller than normal. Brain size doesn't mean shit when it comes to cognition.

This study is misrepresented in a way that is disparaging to larger Americans. The science editor should be ashamed for presenting this paper in this manner.

[Missy Vixen]

31. Oh, no! Fat people has teh stupid, too?

:sarcasm:

At least I'm smart enough to not publish a paper with half-baked research and call it fact.

:sarcasm:

In the meantime, most of the normal-weight people we know are Republicans. It doesn't say much for their cognitive function, now, does it?