Belly fat, dementia linked

As if you needed any more reasons to work out and stay healthy, here's further incentive. According to an article published in the Washington Post, a study conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research found that people who have larger bellies in their 40s are more prone to developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia in their 70s. Kaiser's Rachel A. Whitmer, the lead scientist on the study, noted that more than 6,500 members of Kaiser Permanente of Northern California initially participating in a "broad health study between 1964 and 1973" were tested for such a link. Whitmer and her colleagues found that as the amount of fat in the abdomen increased, so too did the risk for dementia. In fact, when researchers looked at a patient's body mass index (BMI), it was discovered that "people with big bellies were still nearly twice as likely to develop dementia, even if they had BMIs that were considered healthy."

To learn more:
- read the article in the Washington Post (reg. req.)

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