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Now there is another reason why bariatric surgery may save your life… and your brain.

As we age, obesity may contribute to shrinking the brain causing cognitive decline.

Brain regions key to cognition are smaller in older people who are obese compared with their leaner peers, making their brains look up to 16 years older than their true age. As brain shrinkage is linked to dementia, this adds weight to the suspicion that piling on the pounds may up a person’s risk of the brain condition.

The research team also found that the brains of the 51 overweight people were 6% smaller than those of their normal-weight counterparts, on average, and those of the 14 obese people were 8% smaller. “The brains of overweight people looked eight years older than the brains of those who were lean, and 16 years older in obese people,” says Thompson.

On The Net: newscientist.com