22nd Oct 2018 - 11:07
Image
Abstract
A study has suggested that as people become more obese, their grey matter progressively shrinks, reported The Sunday Times.
Grey matter refers to one of the key types of cells, which make up the brain and spine, and is important in brain structures, including those involved in sensory perception as well as memory, emotions and decision-making.
“Higher levels of all obesity measures were related to lower gery-matter volume,” wrote the researchers, Mark Hamer, professor of exercise medicine at Loughborough University, and David Batty, professor of epidemiology at University College London in The Australian.
“The combination of heightened body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio may be an important risk factor for grey matter atrophy.”
The finding that it may be linked with brain atrophy ties it to diseases such as dementia, which affects about 850,000 in the UK.
Category