Is there a wide-waisted elderly risk of dementia?
Elderly whose weight is normal but with a wide waist is riskier to experience dementia. What causes the disease to occur?
Have you ever seen a sister or grandmother who forgot to name her grandson? Repeating the same story or asking for a past thing. The elderly may be exposed to dementia. What is a disease?
Dementia problems
Dementia is a disease that can make a person difficult to think and also remember a thing. The disease also causes you to forget about routine or daily activities.
Many factors can be the cause of the disease associated with declining brain function. For example, hereditary factors, blood pressure, and lifestyle can also affect the risk of dementia.
Now, the wide waist size is also proven to be the cause of dementia in the elderly. Is that true?
Wide waist research and risk of dementia in elderly
Previously, many studies have shown that obesity increases the chances of developing dementia. But now, the emerging evidence reveals that excess fat in the stomach increases the risk of the disease.
People with excess abdominal fat, or referred to as central obesity, usually have a wide waist. Please note, the size of the waist circumference of the central obesity person is above 90 cm in men or above 80 cm in women.
A South Korean study found that a wide-waisted elderly, riskier to experience dementia disease. Interestingly, this increased risk is not affected by weight that is usually calculated by the body mass index (BMI).
The research was conducted by a team from Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. Where researchers examined more than 870,000 participants aged 65 years and above. Participants were national health screening participants since the year 2009.
Found the result of half the total number of participants that have been researched for 6.5 years, 13 percent are known to experience dementia.
In the report also published in the journal Obesity, mentioned people with normal weight but wide-waisted (central obesity) are the most risky people experiencing dementia.
The risk of dementia is increased gradually as the waist circumference increases in size. Risk factors associated with this brain performance are higher in the men who have a waist measuring 95 cm to 110 cm more.
In women, the risk of dementia is increased with a waist circumference 85 cm to 110 cm or more.
This study from South Korea has two studies that had been conducted in the elderly in Europe. In Ireland, it was found that 5,186 people aged 60 and over and had a large waist circumference, had less thought (cognitive) skills.
Then, from the United Kingdom also examined 9,652 people whose average age was 55 years. The results found that elderly with a wide waist, the volume of the brain is at a low level.
Why not see the body mass index (BMI)?
Furthermore, why does abdominal excess fat be more related to dementia than the IMT?
If there is inflammation in the blood, a reactive C-protein (C-reactive protein) level will increase. The C-reactive protein is produced by the body as a response signal sent by fat cells.
Then, it has been widely found in earlier research that states if C-reactive protein levels rise, meaning a person's cognitive abilities have diminished. This declining thinking capability has become one of the signs or traits of dementia.
Well, the body mass index or BMI, has long been used to seek the relationship between obesity and dementia. However, this is felt to be more focused on a weight ratio to the height of the body.
Along with the many new findings, experts agreed that the waist circumference is an indicator of excess body fat which is much more accurate than the body mass index.
The condition of the cause of dementia is very prone to occur, especially in elderly individuals who lose a lot of lean body mass like muscle. They tend to seem to gain weight without significant weight changes.
So, for those of you who are young and productive, the above researches remind us that keeping weight in the normal range alone is not enough. Note the size of your waist circumference, what is already below 90 cm for men, or under 80 cm for women?
If you have not yet achieved the ideal waist circumference goal, round the intention and change the lifestyle immediately. Start avoiding eating fatty foods, lazy motion habits, and also drinking sweet drinks. The impact does not seem immediate, but it can be felt as you enter into the elderly later.