Could Obesity Help Protect Against Dementia?

'Could Obesity Help Protect Against Dementia?'

Could Obesity Help Protect Against Dementia?

Large study suggests that possibility, but experts call for further research into surprising finding

WebMD News from HealthDay

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 9, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A new study of nearly 2 million people suggests that those who are overweight^[1] or obese in middle age may be less likely to develop dementia^[2] than their normal and underweight peers.

Overweight^[3] and obese people were about 30 percent less likely to develop dementia 15 years later than people of a healthy weight^[4]. Conversely, underweight people were 34 percent more likely to develop dementia than those whose weight was normal, according to the study authors.

“Our findings were unexpected, that obese and overweight people would be protected,” said lead researcher Dr. Nawab Qizilbash, from OXON Epidemiology Ltd. in Madrid, Spain.

However, the retrospective study was only able to show an association between obesity and a reduced risk of dementia, not a cause-and-effect relationship.

And Qizilbash added that people shouldn’t take these preliminary findings as a license to gain weight^[5] in hopes of preventing dementia since the study also showed a predictable increase in premature death risk from being overweight or obese.

“Even if there were to be a protective effect on dementia from being overweight or obese, you may not live long enough to get the benefit,” Qizilbash said.

He added that the findings need further study. “We don’t have a biological explanation for the association we observed,” he said.

However, Qizilbash thinks the results might point the way toward new treatments or ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease^[6] and other dementias.

“Our results should open new avenues for research for protective factors for dementia. They may be used to provide insight to looking for a mechanism and developing new treatments for dementia,” he said. “In addition, doctors, public health scientists and policy makers may need to rethink how to identify who is at high risk for dementia.”

The report was published online April 10 in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

Deborah Gustafson, a professor of neurology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York City, and author of an accompanying editorial in the journal, questioned the study’s methods.

Specifically, she wondered whether weight measured in middle age actually reflects the risk of dementia 15 years later. Since there are genetic components to both weight and dementia, the role of weight by itself isn’t clear, she said.

References

1. ^{^} overweight (www.webmd.com)
2. ^{^} dementia (www.webmd.com)
3. ^{^} Overweight (www.webmd.com)
4. ^{^} healthy weight (www.webmd.com)
5. ^{^} gain weight (www.webmd.com)
6. ^{^} Alzheimer’s disease (www.webmd.com)