Midlife Obesity Raises Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease Later
April 12, 2011 by Dr. Marc Darrow, M.D.
Filed under Alzheimer's Disease
Researchers reporting at the American Academy of Neurology 58th Annual Meeting in San Diego this week say that midlife obesity raises the risk for Alzheimer’s.
From the American Academy of Neurology press release:
“People who are overweight or obese in their 40s have a greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 58th Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calif., April 1 – 8, 2006.
For the study, researchers followed nearly 9,000 people over a period of up to 30 years. The study participants were evaluated for overweight and obesity by measuring skinfold thickness below the shoulder and at the back of the upper arm. Those with higher skinfold measurements in their 40s were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than those with smaller skinfold measurements.
Those in the highest group of shoulder skinfold measurements were nearly three times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as those in the lowest group. For the arm measurements, those in the highest group were 2½ times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as those in the lowest group.”
Read the entire press release at the American Academy of Neurology website
