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Fat people have little brains
By Dr. William Campbell Douglass on 06/24/2010
Stuff your belly, shrink your brain -- it's pretty simple, but it's true.
A new study shows how the fattest people also have the smallest brains, a major risk factor for dementia. It's like we're eating our own brains.
See any good zombie movies lately?
Obesity linked to dementia
Boston University School of Medicine Researchers used CT scans to check belly fat levels, and MRIs to check the brain volumes, of 733 adults with an average age of 60. Nearly 70 percent of the patients were women.
The researchers found that those with the highest BMIs had the lowest brain volumes, according to the study in the Annals of Neurology.
But is that really surprising? You'd have to be missing some brain volume anyway to let yourself get that big and sloppy in the first place (don't get mad at me for saying it -- you've done this to yourself).
Other researchers have made the same link, and one study found that people with the biggest, fattest bellies had three times the risk of dementia of those with the smallest stomachs.
In the new study, the link was strongest among those who had the most fat around the organs and gut -- abdominal fat, and the so-called "beer belly."
But if you're that fat, there's a whole lot more than beer in that belly. After all, despite what you've been told, a couple of cold ones at the end of the day are GOOD for you.
No, forget beer -- those bellies are packed full of doughnuts, candy bars and pizzas.
You want to lower your risk, lose the weight. But so many people are getting so fat that eventually, we'll be overrun with bloated, hungry, tiny-brained dementia patients.
I hope you've been brushing up on your zombie skills -- because that's not far off from "Night of the Living Dead" after all.
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William Campbell Douglass I.I., M.D. has been called "the conscience of modern medicine."
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Comments
Anonymous
Sorry i just dont swallow this information that obesse peopleare more likely to have dementia go in to where the dementia patients are as see them you have handful whombecause nof their disease have glutony. There are a lot of things said that make you p[rone dementia thats just not true i no many who ate healthy exercised studied socialised well good employment histories done cryptics crosswords lots of mental activity as well as physical then they get dementia symptoms which leads to the fact they have some type of neuro disease. Dementia is not a disease but a group of symptoms that some diseases present.
RICHARD N. KEENE
Hey Doc, What about those Rx's for blood pressure and diabetes that make it almost impossible to lose weight?
Tony Isaacs
Good info, Dr. D
I would add that, in addition to how much you put in your belly, WHAT you put in your belly is vitally important. One need look no further than the long lived and healthy populations in the Mediterranean to see that. Many of those people are what we would consider to be quite rotund, but they get that way because they enjoy eating plenty of healthy, nutrient dense foods, instead of stuffing their faces with junk like we see in the SADs diet. They also have a low incidence of dimentia and Alzheimer's.
Natural woman
YES! Drugs influence weight, so does processed food and Carbohydrates!
Insulin in my case allow me to accumulate fluid by the time I go to bed. That is why I decided to eat smart, and cut back Insulin! The only drug I fall for 14 years ago! Insulin makes people gain weight! I ate 1/3 of the food my husband ate, and I was gaining, while he kept his weight!
I was trapped into Insulin and that is a dangerous drug, better say hormone! As one takes Insulin, the weight start ballooning, and the doses of Insulin therefore increasing!
I allowed for a month my sugar ballooned up to 200-250 with out Insulin, and I had no water retention at night! On protein diet with a slice of bread a day and 1 Tbsp. of rice a day.
Cutting all the carbs did not help, so after a month I went back 25 U Insulin. (now only 16U a day)
I visited a Naturopatic Amish Doctor in KY.
He 100% in coordination with Dr. Douglass!
Whitecracka
Some people gain belly fat taking prednizone treatments.
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