Obese People with Dementia Live Longer!

Researchers have found that people with dementia who are overweight may live longer.

Researchers have found that people with dementia may live longer if they are overweight.

According to Ambassador Arjan, quoted by Isca News, middle-aged obesity is an important risk factor for developing dementia (dementia) in older age, but the relationship between the two may be more complicated than we thought. Now, researchers from the United States and Canada have found evidence that overweight is associated with longer life after dementia diagnosis.

This is a surprising finding, given the number of health problems associated with obesity – from high blood pressure to a variety of cancers – but the discovery may provide experts with useful insights into how dementia develops and possible ways to slow its progression.

The research team analyzed the health records of 4523 American adults (age 51 and older) who did not have dementia at the beginning of the study period, but who later developed it. These people were classified into four groups based on their body mass index (BMI) at the beginning of the study: normal weight, overweight, obese grade 1, and obese grade 2 or 3.

According to a report published in the "Journal of Alzheimer's Disease", in a follow-up period that lasted up to 20 years, the probability of premature death was significantly higher in people who were of normal weight.

"This does not mean that patients with dementia should strive to become overweight or obese, as our study was not designed to test such a hypothesis," said Virginia Chung, a behavioral scientist at New York University's School of Global Public Health.

But our findings show that weight status can serve as a useful predictor of survival at the time of dementia diagnosis. Also, these findings confirm that nutrition is a key factor in the health and survival of people with dementia. Compared to people with normal weight, the group of overweight people was 16% less at risk of death during the study period.

This risk reduction rate was 27% for people with first-degree obesity and 22% for people with second- and third-degree obesity. These results were obtained after the researchers included other factors affecting the mortality rate, including gender, education level, race and ethnicity, smoking status and other chronic diseases in their analyses.

The researchers carefully examined the possibility of any bias (systematic error) that might have affected the results. For example, they assessed participants' weight history to see whether people in the normal weight range might have been overweight before and lost weight due to illness (which makes them more vulnerable); But the observed results and associations remained.

"Because this finding is somewhat contrary to popular belief, the important question is whether this result could simply be due to a bias," says Yuan Zhang, a geriatrician at Columbia University's Millman School of Public Health. Our analyzes show that the main confounding factors we examined cannot explain the survival advantage associated with higher weight.

The next question is why there is such an unexpected connection. Currently, the answer to this question is not clear, but researchers speculate that dementia may cause people to skip meals or forget to eat. For those with more fat stores or muscle mass, this probably won't be a problem.

"Nutrition can be a challenging issue for people with dementia," says Chung. They may become emaciated and unable to eat; A condition that can be caused by changes in the central mechanisms of the brain and lead to decreased appetite and lack of motivation to eat, increased energy expenditure and difficulty in self-feeding. This idea is not entirely new; Because the same "obesity paradox" has also been observed in heart and kidney diseases. More research is needed to understand the reason for this relationship. Especially research that monitors people's weight and eating habits over time.

Currently, these findings are not proof of a direct cause-and-effect relationship, and it cannot be said with certainty that weight is the cause of these people's longer life. However, there is strong evidence that obesity status in people with dementia is an indicator that should be considered.

The researchers explain: Although the underlying mechanisms of this phenomenon are not yet fully known, these findings indicate that a person's weight status at the time of diagnosis can serve as a useful indicator for predicting the course of the disease, along with other factors.

A new study shows that people born recently show signs of being biologically older than previous generations of the same age. In other words, a 40-year-old today may have biological characteristics that make him look older than a 40-year-old decades ago.

According to a new study, people who have a habit of eating late at night may be putting their liver health at risk.

Fall brings with it abundant and healthy produce, from root vegetables such as carrots and zucchini to squashes such as squash and zucchini, as well as beans and Brussels sprouts, all of which are diverse options for this colorful season.

According to the US National Institutes of Health, inflammation is a natural immune response that helps protect the body from injury and infection, but when it becomes chronic, it can be a health threat.

Most people suffer from dry skin, which worsens in autumn. But there are good home remedies for dry skin.

A new study shows that two meals with nearly identical calories and nutritional composition can produce different metabolic responses. In this experiment, the ultra-processed meal caused a greater increase in insulin and blood sugar remained high for a longer period of time after consuming it.

Protein powders are popular supplements among athletes and people who seek to increase protein intake; But does consuming more of them lead to more muscle building? Nutritionists, while warning against excessive consumption of these supplements, emphasize the importance of checking ingredients and independent test confirmations.

The Director General of the Food and Drug Organization's Health Products Monitoring Office, emphasizing the role of reporting unwanted side effects in improving the safety of health products, said: timely reporting of drug side effects and errors helps to quickly identify risks and prevent the recurrence of possible harm to other consumers.