The Effect of Obesity on the Brain

Brains naturally shrink with age. Starting in middle age, the brains of obese people show startling differences in gray matter tissue versus white matter tissue compared to those of normal weight, according to an analysis of fMRI images. White matter tissue connects regions of the brain and allows for information to be communicated between those regions.

Scientists looked at data from 473 individuals between the ages of 20 and 87 who were recruited by the Cambridge Centre for Aging and Neuroscience. It’s a cross-sectional study (it looked at data from individuals at only one point in time) so it can’t be conclusive, but they wanted an idea of how obesity impacts brain structure across the adult lifespan and to infer if obesity caused greater brain changes characteristic of aging.

Overweight people showed differences, a widespread reduction, in brain matter structure compared with those of their leaner counterparts.

http://acsh.org/news/2016/08/04/your-brain-on-obesity-overweight-people-are-ten-years-older/

I think a more interesting question "Is this trend reversible for obese patients that undergo weight loss surgery and achieve long term normal BMI levels.

A few days ago, I posted that:

With one third of the adult American population being obese, it is no surprise that there are 113,000 bariatric surgical cases per year. Studies have shown how the procedure can improve obesity-related disorders, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension [high blood pressure], and high cholesterol levels. Researchers are adding another to this growing list – premature aging. In a paper presented at the recent European Society of Cardiology Frontiers In Cardiovascular Biology Conference in Florence, Italy, Austrian researcher Philipp Hohensinner and his collaborators discussed the role of bariatric surgery in improving and possibly reversing the premature aging phenotype of previously morbidly obese patients.

http://acsh.org/news/2016/07/28/bariatric-surgery-may-reverse-obesity-associated-premature-aging/

So maybe there is some hope for us old-timers.