Obesity and Dementia

Scientists seem to think there might be a link between belly fat and dementia. So, if you're apple shaped do you have to worry about obesity and dementia or will worrying about them actually make the situation worse?

• A-shaped: larger hips (or what some might think of as pear-shaped)
• Y-shaped: larger breasts
• O-shaped: larger tummy (or what some might think of as apple-shaped)
• H-shaped: straight up and down with no real waist.
• X-shaped: the traditional matching breasts and waist with smaller waist goddess!

While researchers can only guess at the cause because a link doesn’t seem obvious, in March 2008, another health ogre (in addition to diabetes, stroke and heart disease) was added for apple-shaped people – dementia. Supposedly there is a link between obesity and dementia.

Although, researchers found that while the risk was higher for overweight people, the risk of some form of dementia increased even for those who didn't have weight problems but who had apple shaped belly fat.

What are the reasons for belly-fat? Well one of them seems to be a lack of sleep and it also seems to be tied up with menopause.

The study done by Rachel Whitmer of the Kaiser Permenente group, suggests that having a growth in belly fat (in other words becoming more apple-shaped) once you’re over 40, puts you at a higher risk for Alzheimers.

The study was started in 1964 with 6,583 men and women between the ages of 40- 45 who had check-ups over the next 9 years. As part of their medical examination, their belly size was measured with a calliper.

Approximately 36 years later (when participants were between the ages of 73-87) 1049 of the participants had developed some form of dementia. Those most at risk had a high body mass index and high skin-fold thickness in the upper back and upper arms.

Dr. Luchsinger (Columbia University Medical Center in New York), a researcher studying links between weight and Alzheimers, said that while the results didn’t surprise him, these kinds of studies can’t prove that carrying belly fat goes indeed promote dementia.

This is important to remember because what we believe is often what we conceive.

How much do we believe the 'Obesity and Dementia' headlines?

So now you hear that there is a link between obesity and dementia - so what do you do? How many of you will rush out feeling most alarmed to get your hands on a weight loss products - especially one of those lose weight quick products?

And even when we know deep down that diets don’t work – except to make us fatter of course – a news item such as this causes people to panic and think: “I’ve got to get rid of this belly fat that is causing my apple shape NOW!”

It's almost as if we develop an irrational fear. In fact, for some people the fear looms so large that they develop what could almost be thought of as a form of dementia!!!

Frankly, I often look at some of the diets I tried and think I definitely had mind obesity and dementia back then - ironically both of them caused by my 'fear of fat'.

Feelings of alarm about news such as this cause enormous stress – and we forget what stress does to our body and our health. So let’s say that maybe (just maybe ... even though it hasn't been proved conclusively) belly fat does increase our risk – what now happens when we suddenly add a feeling of panic to that?

Because you see here’s an interesting finding that came out of the Framingham Heart Study: women who believed they were prone to heart disease were nearly four times as likely to die as women with similar risk factors who didn't hold such a belief.

So then, what happens when ‘obesity experts ‘ tell you that because you’re overweight you’re going to have blood pressure problems, become diabetic, have a stroke, stand a good chance of becoming diabetic and get dementia? The problem is that beliefs are contagious.

If you believe that being apple shaped and having obesity causes dementia - you increase your chances of developing those exact conditions. What we believe, we easily attract into our life - it's called the nocebo affect and it's deadly. It can literally kill you.

But later in 2008, another bit of research caught my eye - it seemed to find that subcutaneous fat around the middle helped some of our health indicators.

Avoiding Alzheimer's

At the University of Allabama at Birmingham, mice who were given the equivalent of 5 sodas a day for 6 months did much worse on memory-related talks than those mice that were only given plain water.

They discovered that the soda-drinking mice had twice the amyloid plaque (a sign of Alzheimers') in their brains and had gaine 17% more weigh that the others. So... this might be another clue when it comes to the research on obesity and dementia.

Who knows whether it's the sugar or the weight that's to blame? Researchers from this study speculated that cutting back on sugar was a good thing!

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