The study: Led by Dr. Stefan Gazdzinski, the researchers examined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans from 50 healthy middle-aged men and women, measuring amounts of a variety of chemicals in the white and gray matter of the brain, reports Reuters. Bodies of nerve cells make up the gray matter, while connections between these cells make up the white matter. Of the 50 participants, five were obese, 15 were overweight and 30 were of normal weight.
The results: The higher a person's body mass index (BMI), the ratio of body height to weight, the lower the concentration of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), a brain chemical that serves several functions and also acts as a marker for overall brain health, in the white matter of the brain's frontal, temporal and parietal regions, reports Reuters. In addition, overweight and obese people had less NAA in their frontal gray matter, as well as smaller concentrations of choline-containing metabolite, which are substances that are key to the formation of cell membranes, in their frontal white matter. The strongest relationship between BMI and brain chemistry was seen in the white matter of the frontal region, which is believed to be particularly vulnerable to aging-related damage, reports Reuters.
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What does weight have to do with it? Gazdzinski thinks that being heavy accelerates brain aging. In addition, being overweight or obese in childhood affects brain development. The study findings were published in the Annals of Neurology.
What's that smell? How you answer that question could be an early indicator of Alzheimer's.
