Obesity Linked to Alzheimer's
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Obese individuals have a greater risk of developing certain cardiovascular conditions, but could being overweight also increase your risk of Alzheimer's? Researchers in Sweden say yes, if you are a woman.
A new study shows women who are obese have a greater risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Researchers studied nearly 400 patients between ages 70 and 88. The participants were given physical exams that included an electrocardiogram, a chest X-ray, several blood tests, and a neuropsychiatric evaluation. Participants also had their body mass index recorded.
Results of the study show nearly 100 of the 400 participants were diagnosed with a form of dementia. Women who developed dementia between 79 and 88 years of age had a higher BMI at age 70 and 79 than those who did not develop dementia. Women who developed Alzheimer's disease also had higher BMIs at ages 70 and 75 years. For every one-point increase in BMI at age 70, the risk for Alzheimer's increased by nearly 40 percent.
These results, however, were not found in men. In fact, no link was found between the BMI of men and the risk of dementia. Authors of the study write, "The association between large body size and dementia was found only in women. This may be due to selective survival, a true metabolic phenomenon in women, sex differences in body fat distribution, or the low number of men in our sample."
More than 50 percent of adults in the United States and Europe are obese. The highest prevalence of obesity is found in adults who are 50 or older.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2003;163:1524-1528
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