Bmi And Alzheimer's Disease ...

[sandyRoe]

Reports on the radio news this morning suggested that obese people may be less likely to contract Alzheimer's disease. Could this be because an obese person is less likely to live long enough to enter the life stage where it could develop?

[Old_Geezer]

Unlikely. Be really incompetent not to have thought of and checked that.

[Old_Geezer]

Anyway it was overweight rather than obese, was it not ? I think most are going to be safe then :-)

[sandyRoe]

Agree. They probably weighed their research to take account of that.

[fiction-factory]

I was puzzled by this. I assume the study took account of that but I am puzzled as to why they even investigated this- I'm wondering why they thought there might be an inverse link in the first pace. Do they explain why these people may be less likely?

[Prudie]

I heard it from a different angle- rather that skinny people are more likely to get dementia. Quite frankly I find that most of these health scare stories are thoughtless and pointless. So you make a choice?? Put on weight and risk your heart and some cancers or stay skinny and risk dementia. I'd prefer to not know and let nature take its course.

[sandyRoe]

I seem to have taken this story up wrong. According to this being overweight is the indicator of a stronger likelihood of developing the disease.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13213755

[Prudie]

So which is it?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3032915/Could-skinny-middle-age-raise-risk-dementia-Underweight-people-likely-develop-diseases.html

[Tilly2]

They need to make up their minds!


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32233571

[fiction-factory]

Your link was from 2011, sandy.
I heard it the same way as you did this morning on the radio (radio 4) saying obese people were less likely to get dementia.
It's all puzzling but as I've no intention to become anything like obese I'll just take my chance with dementia

[Prudie]

This just goes to show why I think it's pointless

butter's good for you, butter's bad for you, butter's good for you...etc,etc,etc

[sandyRoe]

Sometimes I think listening to a nice anodyne music programme of a morning would be better for my health. What I don't know about I can't worry over. ☺

[Old_Geezer]

Most things are a "mixed bag". Knowing allows you to make choices and match what is best for you, the individual.

More likely skinny, less likely fat; much the same thing isn't it ? Just implies you have a different opinion as to what the norm is. Maybe it's suggesting what the medical profession presently think 'normal weight' is, is the same risk as one 'camp' or the other. Perhaps we would all benefit by being slightly heavier than so called 'normal weight'.

[Peter Pedant]

Few lessons here

whatever you hear on the radio in between the good bits of music, you should either take witha pinch of salt OR read the original article

Where you get an association ( more of X is tied with more of Y ), it is quite possible that X does NOT cause Y. Good example of this was the strong association of possession of fridges and heart disease in the sixties. or possession of tv licences. No one was suggesting that having those two object CAUSED heart disease. All three were associated with western affluent life-style.

I agee with OG - if X is associated with Y and then later they say oops (not X) is associated with Y, then there is a possibility that there is no association at all between X and Y

Finally was THIS the original article ?

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 68, 1204-1209 (November 2014) | doi:10.1038/ejcn.2014.199

Body mass index in dementia

S García-Ptacek, G Faxén-Irving, P Čermáková, M Eriksdotter and D Religa

Abstract
This review comprehensively examines the current knowledge on the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and dementia. The association between BMI and cognition is complex: in younger adults, higher BMIs are associated with impaired cognition. Overweight and obesity in middle age are linked to increased future dementia risk in old age. However, when examined in old age, higher BMIs are associated with better cognition and decreased mortality. Little is known about the optimal BMI for well-being and survival in populations already suffering from dementia. Lifetime trends in weight, rather than single measures, might predict prognosis better and help untangle these apparent contradictions. Thus, the need arises to properly monitor BMI trends in affected dementia patients. Registries can include BMI, improving the management of dementia patients throughout the whole course of the disease. The role of central obesity and systemic inflammation on brain pathology and cognitive decline are discussed in this review. Understanding the life-course changes in BMI and their influence on dementia risk, cognitive prognosis and mortality after diagnosis may provide new insights into the underlying pathophysiology of dementia and shape possible intervention and treatment strategies.


EJCN is not one of the worlds most read and highest reputation journals .....

[Sqad]

Well, here we go again, when medical statisticians burn the midnight oil, the outcome is something vital for the human race.

Two subjects are topical at the moment...obesity and dementia....both seem to be out of control and neither looks like being treatable in the near future.

So what do the " boys " say....if you are overweight in mid-life, then you are less likely to develop dementia in later life and if you have a low BMI, then you are more likely to develop dementia.

That is what the Clinical Nutritioners found and that is what has been reported in the media.............but I have seen enough studies in my lifetime e.g 5 pieces of fruit /day to take it with a pinch of salt.

Even BMI measurements are contentious and they play an important role in the study.

In one weeks time.......this will be forgotten.

[sandyRoe]

forgotten so quickly? Isn't amnesia a sign of...