Tummy fat increases dementia risk

[Posted: Tue 24/11/2009 by Olivia Fens]

Women who store fat on their waist in middle age may be more than twice as likely to develop dementia when they get older, a new study indicates.

Abdominal obesity has been linked to certain cancers, such as kidney cancer and colon cancer.

In the study, researchers found that regardless of weight women who carry weight in the abdomen (known as having an apple-shape) have more than twice the risk of developing dementia when they got older.

“Anyone carrying a lot of fat around the middle is at greater risk of dying prematurely due to a heart attack or stroke,” the researchers, from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden said. “If they nevertheless manage to live beyond 70, they run a greater risk of dementia.”

The research, based on a 32-year study of almost 1,500 women, was published in the journal Neurology.

Alzheimer’s and related dementia currently affects approximately 38,000 people in Ireland but, due to Ireland’s rapidly ageing population, that number is predicted to rise to 58,000 by 2021 and 104,000 by 2036.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and is a progressive and irreversible disease of the brain, characterised by loss of intellectual function, chronic memory loss, language deterioration and personality change.

For more information on dementia click on http://www.irishhealth.com/clin/alzheim/index.html