The brains of overweight people look “10 years older” than those of leaner peers. This is contained in a study published online in the journal ‘Neurobiology of Aging’.

Although, brains naturally lose white matter – the part of the brain that transmits information – as people age, a research team from the Cambridge University found that loss was exacerbated with extra weight – so an overweight 50-year-old had a lean 60-year-old’s brain.

The newsmaxhealth reported that the researchers said, “it shows that we need to know relatively more about how extra weight affects the brain.” While overweight refers to an excess amount of body weight that may come from muscles, bone, fat, and water, obesity refers to an excess amount of body fat.

Both overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.

The new research from the Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom (UK), found that from middle age, the brains of those who are obese show differences in white matter similar to those seen in slimmer individuals who are ten years older.

Although our brains naturally shrink as we age, scientists now believe that this process can also be affected by obesity, which may in turn may affect the onset and progression of brain aging. However so far studies in the area are lacking. The team looked at the brains of 473 people aged between 20 and 87, dividing them into lean and overweight categories.

Their findings found significant differences in the volume of white matter in the brains of overweight people compared with leaner individuals.

Those in the overweight group had much less white matter than their thinner counterparts. The difference was only evident from middle-age onwards, suggesting that our brains may be particularly vulnerable during this period of ageing.

However there was no difference in how the groups fared in tests of knowledge and understanding, so the researchers said more work is needed to follow people and see who develops conditions such as dementia.

Dr. Lisa Ronan, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, who led the study, said it was not clear if obesity affected the brain, or vice versa.

She said: “Obesity is so complex. We know an awful lot about what it does to the body. “But what it does to the brain and how it interacts with obesity – we’re at the beginning of understanding that.”

Prof Sadal Farooqi, from the Wellcome Trust Medical Research Council Institute of Metabolic Science at Cambridge University, who also worked on the study, said the work suggested the middle-aged brain could be particularly vulnerable.

 Source: Telegraph