Email
Share this segment
Download MP3

According to a new study published a few weeks ago in the journal Neurology, having a pot belly in middle age increases your risk for dementia in old age.

Researchers at Kaiser Permanente, in California, studied the records of more than 5,600 men and women who'd had their pot-bellies measured around 35 years ago. Then the researchers examined their records thirty-five years later, this time checking to see which of the patients had dementia. They found a little over 1000 cases.

What struck the researchers was that patients with the largest pot bellies were three times more likely to have dementia than those with less belly fat. This held true even for people who weren't technically overweight. Patients with a 40-inch waist were nearly twice as likely to have dementia as those with smaller waists.

The researchers don't yet understand exactly how or why belly fat is linked to dementia. But they say the lesson is that it's important not only how much weight you carry, but where you carry it.

Additional Resources:

• Read more about the Kaiser Permanent research linking pot bellies to dementia.

Comments