Study: Obesity in elderly boosts risk of dementia 300%

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Jerusalem Post

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH

Now there is another reason to control your weight: The journal Neurology has published Swedish research that has found that long-term obesity in older people raises the risk of developing dementia by 300 percent. Prof. Andrei Keidar, who is responsible for bariatric (stomach shortening) surgery at the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, says the new findings are very important, and show that being overweight even in the elderly should be treated.

Eight thousand five hundred pairs of identical twins over 65 participated in the study; 350 were diagnosed as having vascular dementia (from blood vessel constriction), while 114 were suspected of having regular dementia. The researchers concluded that there is a significant connection between dementia and obesity.

Keidar explained that it has been known that metabolic diseases of the overweight, such as type 2 diabetes, involve excess sugar – the primary “fuel” of brain tissue. It may be that the disruption of normal metabolism contributes to the increase in the prevalence of dementia beyond the damage caused to the blood vessels, he suggested. Thus he concludes that preventing obesity and treating it at a younger age could reduce the amount of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Alzheimer’s affects some 100,000 Israelis – more than 6% of people aged 65, and up to half of those over 85.

Health Ministry statistics show that 44.6% of Israeli adult men and 31.7% of women are overweight.

In the US and Europe, some 50% of older people are overweight or obese.

Keidar suggested that the amount of time for which people were heavy could affect their risk of dementia.

Exercise, diets, medical treatment and – as a last resort – bariatric surgery can help people avoid a series of diseases that can harm the quality and length of their lives, said Keidar. Some 5,000 bariatric operations were conducted (it is included in the basket of health services for those qualified) last year, compared to only 1,500 in 2006. After extensive study, two international medical societies recently stated that the efficacy of bariatric surgery in improving the health of the obese has been proven.

New center to tackle obesity epidemic

Chicago Tribune
By Deborah L. Shelton Tribune reporter
Health professionals fear life expectancy may fall for 1st time
a major initiative aimed at addressing a local and national health epidemic, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine recently opened a center to research the causes of obesity and find new ways to treat it.The Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity will focus on treatment, research, education and advocacy, officials said.More than one-third of U.S. adults and about 17 percent of children and adolescents have a body-mass index that qualifies them as obese, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A high body-mass index indicates a weight greater than what is generally considered healthy for a given height.Some health professionals fear that so many adults and children are becoming obese that life expectancy could fall for the first time in the nation's history. Obesity has been tied to a wide range of health problems, including type II diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, breast and colon cancer and possibly Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
"This is the major epi- demic of our time," said Dr. Lewis Landsberg, founder and director of the center. "Obesity and its complications threaten to replace smoking-related diseases as the pre-eminent health problem that we face."Obesity has root causes that are evolutionary, biological, psychological, sociological, economic and political, Landsberg said."We recognize there are metabolic differences between those who are obese and those who are lean," he said. "It's not just gluttony and sloth, despite what people think. What maintains the weight of one person will cause somebody else to gain weight, independent of activity."One mission of the new center, which is in the new Center for Lifestyle Medicine in the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation, is to combat stigma by educating medical students, physicians and the public.One program targets obesity and weight gain during pregnancy, a critical time for excessive weight gain and developing complications as a result, said Dr. Robert Kushner, director of clinical care for the new center and co-director of its obesity and pregnancy program.The idea that pregnant women can eat anything and as much as they want is faulty, he said."Currently, there has been very little focus on restricting weight gain in women who are pregnant or on counseling women who are overweight and about to become pregnant," Kushner said.Women who pack on too many pounds during pregnancy increase their risk of developing high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes. They also are more likely to have a Cesarean delivery.In 2007, almost half of the women who.......read the whole article
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Abdominal obesity raises dementia risk years later

American Medical Network
Having an “apple-shaped,” rather than a “pear-shaped” body at middle-age appears to increase the later-life risk of dementia, California researchers report.

Moreover, the link between abdominal obesity and increased dementia risk appears to be independent of overall body weight and the presence of diabetes or cardiovascular disease, report Dr. Rachel A. Whitmer, from Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, in Oakland, and colleagues.

These findings, published in the medical journal Neurology, add to increasing evidence of the dangers of...read the whole story