Under 50 and Overweight? Your Odds for Dementia Later May Rise

A study presented late last week at a meeting of the Alzheimer's Association suggests that young adults who are overweight or obese are at a higher risk for dementia in later life, according to U.S. News & World Report . The investigators examined more than 5,100 older adults participating in two long-term studies. Women who were overweight between 20 and 49 years of age had nearly twice the risk of dementia after age 70, while older men and women who were obese in those earlier years saw their risk increase by 150 percent. Columbia University Professor Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri cautioned that these findings do not prove that excess weight induces dementia, but said "our study does suggest that adult life obesity is an important risk factor for dementia." For each study, the researchers used a computer model to map each participant's lifetime body mass index (BMI), broken down by early adulthood (ages 20 to 49), middle age (ages 50 to 69), and late life (ages 70 to 89). The association between BMI and dementia risk differed by gender and age, as being overweight or obese in middle age did not appear to affect women's dementia risk. Yet men who were overweight during midlife saw their dementia risk rise 50 percent after age 70, while men with middle-aged obesity had twice the risk. Men who were overweight during early adulthood apparently had no elevated dementia risk, while women did.