Skip navigation

PositiveTip for

Bigger Stomachs, Smaller Brains?

People with more abdominal fat have smaller total brain volume.

Could it really be related? Midlife obesity has long been associated with increased risk of dementia, although the how the relationship works has been poorly understood. 

Researchers examined possible associations between cerebral brain volume and obesity in 733 middle age community adults. They found a significant association between visceral (abdominal) fat and low total brain volume. The authors suggest that inflammation resulting from fat cells may negatively impact brain tissue.

PositiveTip: Even if this isn't directly due to inflammation, there are many other great health reasons to maintain ideal weight.

Comments (0)

Join in the Conversation!

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd><sup>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options