Obesity can have a negative impact not only on our body, but also on the mind. Scientists warn that excess pounds can cause the brain to contract, reports New Scientist.
Obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing type XNUMX diabetes. Diabetes, in turn, affects our cognitive abilities. Antonio Convit from New York University School of Medicine set out to investigate how obesity affects the physical changes of the brain.
Antonio used an MRI. He conducted brain studies among 44 obese and 19 lean people, all of whom were of similar age and health. He then compared the physical differences in the size and shape of the brains.
It turned out that obese people have more water in the brain’s amygdala, the place where they eat. Moreover, in obese individuals, smaller orbital cortexes have been observed, which are responsible for the perception of impulses, also influencing eating behavior. Convit believes that these observations may suggest that obese people have fewer neurons, or that their neurons are shrinking.
Convit’s discoveries confirm the downward slope theory in obese people. If one overeats, it leads to neural changes, which may result in further overeating in the future. Obesity means constant pre-inflammation of the brain, which Convit explains as the brain shrinks. (PAP)