Being overweight 'reduces dementia risk'

bbc ^ | James Gallagher

[BenLurkin]

The team at Oxon Epidemiology and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine analysed medical records from 1,958,191 people aged 55, on average, for up to two decades.

Their most conservative analysis showed underweight people had a 39% greater risk of dementia compared with being a healthy weight.

But those who were overweight had an 18% reduction in dementia - and the figure was 24% for the obese.

"Yes, it is a surprise," said lead researcher Dr Nawab Qizilbash.

He told the BBC News website: "The controversial side is the observation that overweight and obese people have a lower risk of dementia than people with a normal, healthy body mass index.

"That's contrary to most if not all studies that have been done, but if you collect them all together our study overwhelms them in terms of size and precision."

[Paid_Russian_Troll]

There are articles and studies ‘proving’ health benefits of homosex and doing drugs.
‘Healthy fat’ is part of this narrative.
There was the whole lot of stupid things like that in human history, all backed by some kind of scientific researches.
Of course being fat is not by itself fatal, and being thin isn’t excluding possibility to develop serious medical conditions but it doesn’t make any tendencies.

[grame]

I guess this means I can cut back on the brain exercising games, huh?

[Albion Wilde]

I’ll be okay then.

[lee martell]

Next thing you know, doctors will say maintaining a moderate habit of smoking menthol cigarettes has been proven to reverse brain damage due to Alzheimer’s. The protective benefits of tobacco on brain cells are magnified if you use a gold plated cigarette holder of three inches in length.(Satire).

[trebb]

I’ll stick with being thin and risk dementia Thank you.

Define "thin". I'm lean but have enough muscle mass to not be deemed "thin" I wonder how at risk my poor mind is.

That said, there's always a trade-off, but despite federal "guidelines", it's probably healthier to have a few extra pounds than to be extremely skinny. Dementia is an ugly deal and painful for family members who love the one suffering the malady - they suffer even more.