Skinny Fat' in Older Adults May Predict Dementia, Alzheimer's Risk

A study published in Clinical Interventions in Aging found "skinny fat" could help predict cognitive performance in older adults significantly, according to EurekAlert . The researchers used community-based aging and memory studies of 353 participants to evaluate how sarcopenic obesity or skinny fat correlated with performance on various cognition tests. They determined an association between skinny fat and the lowest performance on global cognition, followed by sarcopenia alone, and then obesity alone. Obesity and sarcopenia were tied to lower executive function such as working memory, mental flexibility, self-control, and orientation when evaluated separately and even more so when they occurred together. The linkage between sarcopenic obesity and poor global cognitive performance is best characterized by its sarcopenic component, with obesity likely having an additive impact that extends to specific cognitive skills. "Sarcopenia either alone or in the presence of obesity can be used in clinical practice to estimate potential risk of cognitive impairment," concludes Florida Atlantic University Professor Magdalena I. Tolea.