Does weight loss surgery affect dementia risk?

Conclusion This small short-term study has not shown that weight loss surgery reduces the risk of dementia. The women in this study were relatively young (about 41 years old on average) and all had normal neuropsychological test performance. What this study did show is that, unsurprisingly, weight loss for severely obese women was associated with improved insulin resistance and blood glucose levels, and reduced levels of inflammation. The main result reported by the researchers was a higher level of metabolism in two areas of the brain in severely obese women before gastric band surgery compared with normal-weight controls. This reduced to normal levels six months after surgery, when they had lost a substantial amount of weight but were still obese. According to the researchers, one of these parts of the brain usually has reduced levels of metabolism in Alzheimer's disease, but has higher levels of metabolism in young people with a genetically increased risk of Alzheimer's disease before the levels then reduce. But they did not test any of the women for this genetic risk factor (apolipoprotein E type 4 allele). The study also only followed the women for six months. This means it was not able to show what happened to activity in this area over a longer period of time, or whether any of the women would go on to develop Alzheimer's disease. Overall, this study cannot show that the increased level of activity was associated with an increased risk of dementia, or that the redu...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Obesity Source Type: news