The list of the insidious influence of obesity on different parts of the human body is growing larger by year. It has long been known that obesity poses threats of certain kinds of cancer, asthma, high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes.
Human Brain Mapping published an article that adds brain as the next item in the list of the affected organs.
The brain of an obese individual shows unmistakable signs of ongoing destructive processes; it looks smaller and ages faster.
Those who are overweight have less brain tissue compared with their slimmer fellow-men. In overweight people tissue loss is calculated at 4 percent, while in obese people this figure is twice as high!
The parts of the brain mostly affected with tissue loss in the obese are those responsible for attention, memory, planning, and executive functions. Small wonder that among the affected parts are basal ganglia responsible for movement.
In those classified as overweight the reduced parts were basal ganglia, the sensory lobe and the white matter of the brain.
“That’s a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer’s and other diseases that attack the brain,” lead researcher Paul Thompson warns.
Also it was discovered that obesity ages the brain and it shows the signs of wear as if it belonged to a person 16 years older! Meaning dementia may be stalking just around the corner.
In order to ward off the risk of developing mental diseases, scientists advise to exercise more and follow a well-balanced diet.
Source of the image: .flickr.com/photos/jj_judes.
