Get Rid Of The Jelly Bellies
Posted by hope on March 27, 2008
No, not the candy. The ones some of us are struggling to button our pants around.
People who have big bellies in their 40s are much more likely to get Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in their 70s, according to new research that links the middle-aged spread to a fading mind for the first time.
The study of more than 6,000 people found that the more fat they had in their guts in their early to mid-40s, the greater their chances of becoming forgetful and confused and showing other signs of senility as they aged. Those who had the most expansive midsections faced more than twice the risk of the leanest.
Surprisingly, a sizable stomach seems to increase the risk even among those who are not obese or even overweight, the researchers reported in a paper published online yesterday by the journal Neurology.
“A large belly, independent of total weight, is a potent predictor of dementia,” said Rachel A. Whitmer, a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., who led the new study.
Scientists aren’t sure exactly what the relationship is between belly fat and later dementia. But there are already indications that Alzheimer’s may be a type of diabetes, and having an apple weight gain pattern (ie, the tendency to store fat in the abdomen) puts you at higher risk for diabetes.
I, of course, am hosed. I am an apple. Even when I am really good about eating and exercise and get to an ideal weight for my height, I still have a belly and not much of a waist. And now that I am older, it will get even harder to get rid of abdominal fat. When I look at my parents, I see what my genes have in store for me…I should be at the gym lifting weights instead of sitting here in front of a computer.
Sam said
Something awful has happened to me over the last 6 months. I’m eating the same kinds of things I’ve always eaten but now I’m getting fat. It’s been a terrifying revelation about the menace inherent in aging. My hummingbird metabolism that served me so well for 45 years has abandoned me. It’s really very disturbing.
Liz said
Sam, I’ll have to see it to believe it.
I have an alternative explanation for the connection b/w belly fat and dementia. My belly has never been great, but it’s been just decimated by the second baby. My abdominal muscles still haven’t regained any tone and my gut is astonishing. I could easily still pass for pregnant. So my belly fat problem, while also related to diet and exercise, is also very much the result of having had 2 children in my late 30’s. And *that*, and not the belly fat, is what will make me enter early dementia.