Although Alzheimer’s disease appears in old age but early signs of possibility of development of dementia in the future might appear in the middle age. According to researchers at Kaiser Permanente, people with large waistlines in the middle age are three times more susceptible to dementia in old age. The study published in the journal Neurology has found that obesity and bulging stomach was the most dangerous combination for developing dementia.
Being overweight and with a large waist raised the risk of dementia by 230%. People who are officially classed as obese and with large waist had 360% more chance than small-waisted normal weight people of developing dementia. Obesity and associated high blood pressure and cholesterol level increases the risk of dementia by damaging the blood vessels in the brain, which in turn leads to the death of brain cells.
The Alzheimer’s Society has warned that unless steps are taken to stem the obesity epidemic, in UK alone 2.5 million people will suffer from dementia in the next 50-years time. In an earlier study, the US National Institutes of Health team found that obese people in their 40s are 74% more likely to develop dementia compared to those of normal weight. Obese women were 200% more likely to have dementia than women of normal weight were. Leading a healthy lifestyle could reduce the risk of dementia.
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Source: bbc