Greater Waist Circumference, Greater Risk of Dementia

In recent years, epidemiologists have found that waist circumference is a better measure of the burden of excess visceral fat tissue than body mass index (BMI). Progress towards making better use of this information has been slow, as is usually the case in the world of epidemiology. Visceral fat tissue generates chronic inflammation through a variety of mechanisms, from DNA debris activating the immune system to inappropriate signaling by fat cells to an accelerated pace of generation of senescent cells. Chronic inflammation disrupts function and accelerates the progression of all of the common age-related conditions. People who are overweight have a shorter life expectancy and higher lifetime medical costs as a result. A 2015 large-scale retrospective cohort study of nearly 2 million people from the United Kingdom Clinical Practice Research Datalink showed that the incidence of dementia continued to fall for every increasing BMI category. Two Mendelian randomization studies showed no association between obesity and dementia. BMI is not a perfect measure of adiposity because it cannot discriminate between fat and lean body mass. Waist circumference is a more accurate indicator of abdominal visceral fat level than body mass index (BMI) in the elderly. Studies have been limited, however, and focused on the relationship between waist circumference and dementia in older persons. One study showed that central adiposity, represented by waist circumference, predicted an inc...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs