New York: Researchers have found that when a mother experiences both gestational diabetes and preeclampsia, the child has a growth trajectory that leads to an increased risk of high childhood body mass index (BMI) over time.

Published in the journal Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, the study shows link between multiple metabolic disorders in mothers during pregnancy and children’s BMI later in life.

“Diet, exercise, and genetics are familiar risk factors in childhood obesity. Prenatal origins also play a role, yet they are underexplored,” said study researcher Yonglin Melissa Huang from The Graduate Centre in the US.

Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the US. For children, obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18.5 per cent of children between the ages of 2 and 19 meet this criteria.

For the findings, the research team asked how pregnancy conditions can play a role in childhood obesity.

The researchers have previously studied the associations of gestational diabetes and preeclampsia, independently, with children’s BMI.

According to the researchers, when a pregnant woman has gestational diabetes, a hormone produced by the placenta stops the body from effectively using insulin, causing blood sugar to rise.

Preeclampsia is a more serious and potentially life-threatening complication in which the mother experiences high blood pressure and often damage to the kidneys or liver, the study said.

In the new study, the team explored what happens when a pregnant mother has both conditions at once since those two illness are relatively common and often comorbid.

The team monitored the children of 356 mothers from 18 to 72 months.

The results showed that the combination of both gestational diabetes and preeclampsia during pregnancy was especially effective in driving high BMI during early childhood — more so than either condition alone.

Confirming previous findings, the researchers also saw that children born from mothers with only one of these conditions are also at risk for a higher BMI, though the trend for gestational diabetes was not as strong.

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The distance young children live to a fast food restaurant may contribute to their eating habits.

A study in New York City by The Obesity Society, a scientific society dedicated to the study of obesity and its treatment, examined the relationship between proximity to healthy and unhealthy food outlets around children’s homes and their weight outcomes.

A study in New York City by The Obesity Society, a scientific society dedicated to the study of obesity and its treatment, examined the relationship between proximity to healthy and unhealthy food outlets around children’s homes and their weight outcomes.

Living farther than .025 miles — about half of a city block — from the nearest fast food restaurant was associated with lower obesity and obesity/overweight risk and lower Body Mass Index “z scores,” according to the study. Results ranged from 2.5 percent to 4.4 percent decreased obesity.

A total of 3,507,542 student-year observations of height and weight data from the 2009-13 annual FitnessGram assessment of New York City public school students were used, according to the study. BMI “z scores” were calculated, student obesity or obesity/overweight was determined using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts and these data were combined with the locations of four food outlet types: fast-food restaurants, wait-service restaurants, corner stores and supermarkets to calculate distance to the nearest outlet. 

Childhood obesity occurs when a child is well above the normal or healthy weight for his/her age and height, according to the CDC. Behaviors that can influence excess weight gain includes eating high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and beverages; not getting enough physical activity; sedentary activities such as watching television or other screen devices; medication use; and sleep routines. 

Keely McCrady, Johnson County AgriLife Extension Service family and community health agent, said without having seen research related to this topic, she can’t say for certain that childhood obesity is directly linked to living near a fast food establishment.

“However, I can say that environment can definitely have an impact on children’s’ health, including their eating habits,” McCrady said. “When looking at the simple matter of convenience, it is likely that families living near fast food restaurants could be consuming more processed foods with higher calorie, fat and sodium contents instead of taking time to prepare healthier food alternatives at home. Over time, those type of food choices could easily take a toll on a child’s health.”

There are a few ways parents can help their children have a healthier diet and avoid childhood obesity, she said.

“For instance, simply utilizing the MyPlate food guide when preparing meals at home is a great start to improving your child’s diet,” she said. “According to MyPlate, half our plates should include fruit and veggies, while the other half should include an appropriate serving of protein and grains. An additional serving of low-fat or fat free dairy rounds out a well-balanced meal.” 

Think about the snacks you are providing for your kids, she said. 

“Keep fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grain products on hand for snacking and encourage your kids to drink more water in place of sugar-sweetened drinks,” she said. “When your family does decide to eat out at a fast food restaurant, help your kids make conscious food choices: swap out the side of fries for a cup of fruit, replace soda with milk or water and choose a whole grain bread or bun in place of the more processed alternatives. These small choices can add up to equal more nutritious meals.”

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Obesity in childhood is a serious issue increasing in the United States of America and the officials from different health sectors and regulatory bodies are on the way to update new and influential recommendations for early interventional steps to be taken to address the issue at hand.

According to statistics, nearly 20 per cent of the total children population in the United States is the victim of obesity.

The United States Preventive Services Task Force held a review on the literature regarding children between he ages 2 to 18. It has come up with recommendations that children that are over the age of 6 should undergo screening utilizing a measurement of bodily fat that is characterized according to the anthropometrics regarding height and weight – also known as the Body Mass Index or BMI.

In addition to this measure, the Task Force is also recommending an extensive behavioural therapy regime for the children that are the victims of obesity. Moreover, the cognitive behavioural therapies were resulting in the reduction of lowered blood pressure. However, it did not show any alleviation in the cholesterol levels of the children that were obese.

Although the Task Force considered that there was no benefit regarding the obesity performance on screening on children that were younger than the age of 6, this is yet an important issue to be resolved. Children coming in the ages of 2 and 5 are present in a group and they demonstrated a rapid incline in the rates of getting obesity over the past few years. This statistic was reported from the American Academy of Pediatrics – also known as AAP.

The report given by the American Academy of Pediatrics in the year 2018 showed that there is a rising in the trend of different varieties and definitions, categorizations of being overweight and the obesity relating to people coming in the ages of 2 to 19 year old that were more considered in the category of adolescents.

It also included some of the ethnic groups that showed that they were more likely to get the obesity condition in relation to the other kids. White and Asian children living in the United States have highly decreased rates regarding obesity in comparison to the kids belonging to black and Hispanic categories of ethnic groups.

The report also got it into addition that, in contrast to the belief that the obesity concerning to the young children and adolescent has been quite sustained or depreciated in the past few years, it got to find no proof of any declination in any age.

In addition to that, the negative health consequences that obesity shows in people in the long run soon after they reach a certain age due to stimulating factors that trigger these conditions, it is highly important to get a good discussion with the paediatrician as well as the experts of adolescents and growing children regarding important steps that one can take to prevent the obesity from prevailing in the community as focusing on individual health.

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Researchers from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, have explained that obesity, not diet or inactivity raises the risk of dementia.

According to , the researchers explained in their paper, that previous studies have found an association between a low body mass index and the likelihood of receiving a diagnosis of dementia within the next five to 10 years.

The lead author of the study, Dr Sarah Floud, said other studies that lasted a decade or less have also linked poor diet and lack of exercise with the incidence of dementia.

She said, “Low body mass index, poor diet and lack of exercise may be the result of reverse causality, meaning that they may be consequences, rather than causes, of dementia. This situation could well be possible because dementia typically affects cognition a decade before the person formally receives a diagnosis.

“During the preclinical stage, the condition can slowly but gradually affect behavior, impair mental and physical activity, reduce the intake of food and calories, and cause weight loss.”

The researchers examined 1,136,846 women in the United Kingdom in the study published in the journal, Neurology.

The study population had an average age of 56 years and were free of dementia at the start of the study between 1996 and 2001.

“Some previous studies have suggested a poor diet or a lack of exercise may increase a person’s risk of dementia. However, our study found these factors are not linked to the long-term risk of dementia. The short-term links between dementia, inactivity, and low-calorie intake are likely to be the result of the earliest signs of the disease before symptoms start to show.

“On the other hand, obesity in midlife was linked with dementia 15 or more years later. Obesity is a well-established risk factor for a cerebrovascular disease which contributes to dementia later in life,” Floud said.

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New York: People who spend long hours at the workplace are more likely to have high blood pressure — including a type that can go undetected during a routine medical appointment, researchers warned on Thursday.

Compared with colleagues who worked fewer than 35 hours a week, working 49 or more hours each week was linked to a 70 per cent greater likelihood of having “masked” hypertension and 66 per cent greater likelihood of having sustained hypertension — elevated blood pressure readings, according to the study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension.

The findings was true for both men and women staffers and accounted for variables such as job strain, age, sex, education level, occupation, smoking status, body mass index (BMI) and other health factors.

“Both masked and sustained high blood pressure are linked to higher cardiovascular disease risk,” said lead study author Xavier Trudel, assistant professor in the social and preventive medicine department at Laval University in Quebec, Canada.

The new study, conducted by a Canadian research team, enlisted more than 3,500 white-collar employees at three public institutions in Quebec.

These institutions generally provide insurance services to the general population.

“The observed associations accounted for job strain, a work stressor defined as a combination of high work demands and low decision-making authority. However, other related stressors might have an impact,” Trudel said.

Future research could examine whether family responsibilities — such as a worker’s number of children, household duties and childcare role – might interact with work circumstances to explain high blood pressure, the authors wrote.

The five-year study involved three waves of testing — in years one, three and five.

In all, almost 19 per cent of the workers had sustained hypertension, which included employees who were already taking high blood pressure medications. More than 13 per cent of the workers had masked hypertension and not receiving treatment for high blood pressure.

“The link between long working hours and high blood pressure in the study was about the same for men as for women,” Trudel noted.

The study “did not include blue-collar workers (employees who are paid by the hour and perform manual labor work in positions such agriculture, manufacturing, construction, mining, maintenance or hospitality service).

Therefore, these findings may not reflect the impact on blood pressure of shift-work or positions with higher physical demands,” the authors said.

Other limitations include the study’s measurement of blood pressure only during daytime hours, and the omission of hours worked outside participants’ primary job.

“People should be aware that long work hours might affect their heart health, and if they’re working long hours, they should ask their doctors about checking their blood pressure over time with a wearable monitor,” Trudel emphasised.

Masked hypertension can affect someone for a long period of time and is associated, in the long term, with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

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Obesity is a medical condition which occurs when a person carries excess body weight or fat and this might affect their health. A person who is obese has high body mass index (BMI). A BMI between 25 to 29.9 indicates that a person is carrying excess weight and might have obesity. There’s is a thin line between being overweight and being obese and it is important to know the difference between the two. In this article, we are going to find out how to know if you are obese or just overweight.

How to find out if you are obese?

There are two factors that can help you determine obesity. The first, of course, is BMI. To calculate your BMI, you need to divide your weight in kgs by height squared in metres. If your BMI is equal to or less than 19 then you are undernourished and must seek urgent medical attention. If your BMI is between 19 to 24.9, then it is a normal range. 25-29.9 range of BMI is considered to be overweight and over 30 is considered to be obese.

The second way to find out if you are obese is waist measurement. You need to know the exact location of your waist, which is different from the one which is used for making clothes. Clinically, your waist is the midpoint between the last rib and the hip bone. The tape measure must run around the girth crossing the navel at the front and parallel at the back. For females, the waist measurement should be lesser than 40 inches for males and lesser than 35 inches for females.

What causes obesity?

Excess body fat and weight can be prevented by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. A healthy diet combined with regular exercise, good quality sleep and less stress can together help you lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.

Obesity puts you at risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and much more. Following are some of the reasons why obesity happens:

1. Sedentary lifestyle: Not being physically active and not exercising may put you at risk of obesity. The less you move, the fewer calories you burn. In order to prevent obesity, make sure you are physically active and move more and sit less.

2. Consuming too many calories: If your diet includes lots of junk, deep fried and processed food, then you are at risk of being obese or overweight. Avoid intake of high carb, high sugar and high fat foods. Include more fresh fruits, vegetables, lentils, legumes, nuts and seeds in your diet. High fibre, high protein and low-carb foods can help you lose weight and keep obesity at bay.

3. Lack of sleep: Yes, lack of sleep can put at the risk of obesity. Missing sleep or being sleep deprived increases your risk of gaining weight and developing obesity. When you sleep lesser than your body needs, it results in increased production of ghrelin or hunger hormone. Also, lack of sleep reduces production of leptin, the hormone that suppresses appetite. These two consequences can put you at risk of developing obesity.

Along with these factors, taking too much stress, excessive intake of alcohol and smoking are other lifestyle-related habits that can slow down your metabolism and increase risk of obesity.

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information. 

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New US research has found that regular physical activity could help boost the cardiovascular health of children who were previously inactive.

Carried out by researchers at Augusta University and the University of Georgia, the new study looked at 175 boys and girls aged eight to 11. Three quarters of the children had obesity, a majority had prediabetes (where their glucose levels were already higher than normal, which is a major risk factor for diabetes), three percent were prehypertensive and 5 percent were already hypertensive.

All of the children took part in an eight-month daily after-school aerobic exercise program, which involved coming to the Georgia Prevention Institute every afternoon where they were asked to do their homework for about half an hour and were given a healthy snack.

However, while one group of children were placed in an exercise group and also participated in instructor-led aerobic activities like jumping rope and playing tag for 40 minutes, the group of children placed in the control group took part in more sedentary activities such as crafts, music and board games.

The findings, published in the International Journal of Obesity, showed that after completing the eight-month program, the children who had been assigned to the exercise group showed twice the improvement in key measures of cardiovascular fitness like good cholesterol levels, aerobic fitness, and body fat levels, compared to the control group.

“They could do more, breathe better, their heart rates were lower when they were pushing themselves,” says corresponding author Dr. Catherine Davis.

However, they didn’t show improvements in other key measures such as blood pressure, insulin resistance or arterial stiffness, which is an early indicator of cardiovascular risk. In addition, the team also found that children in the study who had more body fat or a higher body mass index (BMI) already had stiffer arteries than those carrying less fat.

The children in the exercise group did not lose any weight, or reduce their BMI or waist size, which Davis explained is due to growing children replacing some fat with muscle, which is a healthy response.

“They should be growing. With exercise, you can allow their body to develop in a more healthy way,” Davis says.

The researchers say the study shows that children need easy access aerobic activities which will encourage them to stay physically active. These activities should also be fun, to encourage the children to take part, but not necessarily competitive.

“Children need to feel encouraged to do physical activity even when they are not winning,” says Davis, which means kids should have a variety of programs to choose from and which are not targeted only to those who are sporty, fast or who have good coordination, she says.

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There was Deavan Clegg’s infamous botched lip job in South Korea. Fernanda Flores’ breast augmentation – which her boyfriend financed. And Anfisa Arkhipchenko even did a dramatic tell-all video detailing all of the plastic surgeries she’s had in her life. 

But one procedure really stands out from the rest and that’s Darcey Silva’s incredible ‘Mommy Makeover’. Darcey’s had several other procedures in her past, but this transformation she got in Spring of 2019 takes the cake. 

She actually underwent the procedure alongside her identical twin sister, Stacy, and the two look absolutely gorgeous. They both got the same tummy-tuck, lip fillers, and even the same hairstyle. It was truly a transformation the top Chicago plastic surgeon Ramzen Azizi would be impressed with. 

A ‘twin transformation’ to remember

Fans loved this mommy makeover first of all because the sisters were open about it. The pair even recorded a pre-op special video together on YouTube. The video showed the sisters visiting their surgeon one day before they were meant to have surgery. 

Speaking to the cameras Darcy said, “We have worked in fashion and entertainment for many years. And we just want a new look. We want to transform and just keep our look going”.

On the agenda was both a tummy tuck and some lip fillers. The sisters also got matching hair extensions, which made them look shockingly similar. 

Speaking about the transformation, Darcey clarified that they didn’t want to look completely different. She said, “we want to embrace our beauty”. This is a great example of how plastic surgery can enhance existing features to make people look their best. 

A top Chicago plastic surgeon Ramzen Azizi would approve of this mommy makeover?

The sisters went on to debut their new look on TLC’s 90 Day Fiancé: Pillow Talk. Both fans and plastic surgeons were impressed with the twins’ new appearance. 

When Darcey and Stacy were sat next to each other for this episode, they looked exactly alike. This was weird for friends, family, and fans who were used to seeing them looking totally different from each other. Even though they are identical, the sisters both still had their own styles and looks in the past. Stacy reportedly usually had darker hair, whereas Darcey typically kept her hair blonde. 

The surgery was definitely a success (more here) in making the sisters actually look like identical twins again. As a plus, it also helped them both look nearly ten years younger. 

Darcey under the knife….again?

Since this mommy makeover, has Darcey yet again seen another doctor like the top Chicago plastic surgeon Ramzen Azizi?

Only a few months later in August of 2019, Darcey was already facing suspicion that she’s had both a boob job and more fillers. Darcey has not outright admitted to any new surgeries as of late, however she does look very different than she did back in the Spring. 

Should she stop? Some fans think enough is enough and that Darcey should quit while she’s ahead. However, it’s ultimately up to her to make that decision. Either way, at 45 years old, she still looks great.

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Washington D.C: Overweight, obese children aren’t only prone to future health risks but their brain structure has been found to have differences in regions linked to cognitive control, compared to those with normal weight.

However, researchers stated that it was hard to say if obesity caused these changes or whether the children are obese because their brain structures are different, according to a study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

Previous studies have linked being overweight with scoring lower on various measures of executive function, an umbrella term for several functions such as self-control, decision making, working memory (temporarily holding information for processing) and response to rewards.

To examine if this link existed in children, researchers analysed data from 2,700 children between the ages of 9-11 years who had been recruited as part of the National Institutes of Health Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (NIH ABCD) Study.

They observed the thickness of the cortex, the outer layer of the brain – our so-called ‘grey matter’ – and compared it to each child’s body mass index (BMI) and also analysed results from tests of executive function.

An association between increased BMI and significant reductions in the average (mean) thickness of the cortex, as well as thinning in the pre-frontal region of the cortex, an area associated with cognitive control; was found.

This relationship remained after accounting for factors including age, sex, race, parental education, household income and birth-weight.

Researchers also found that increased BMI was associated with poorer performance at tests to measure executive function.

“We saw very clear differences in brain structure between children who were obese and children who were a healthy weight,” said study’s first author Dr Lisa Ronan from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge.

“It’s important to stress that the data does not show changes over time, so we cannot say whether being obese has changed the structure of these children’s brain or whether innate differences in their brains lead them to become obese,” Dr Ronan added.

When the team used waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio as a measure of obesity, they found that these, too, were associated with reduced executive function, but the link between cortical thickness was more complicated, with some regions showed reduced thickness while others showed increased thickness.

“The links that we observed suggest that there are very real structural brain and cognitive differences in children who are obese. The findings contribute a small part towards our growing understanding of the causes and consequences of obesity in children,” added Professor Paul Fletcher, also at Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry.

Researchers will continue following these children as they grow older to see whether structural differences in the brain change over time and exactly how they relate to obesity.

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Tummy tuck surgery (abdominoplasty) yields high patient satisfaction and improved quality of life in patients who are overweight or obese – despite a substantial risk of complications, reports a study in the October issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

An “overwhelming majority” of overweight/obese patients are happy with the results of abdominoplasty, according to the study by Dennis C. Hammond, MD, and colleagues of Partners in Plastic Surgery of West Michigan, Grand Rapids. They write, “A real quality of life improvement can be obtained by offering body contouring even in the face of obesity, with the caveat that the risk of minor postoperative complications is high.”

Abdominoplasty is an effective procedure to improve the appearance of the abdomen. However, this and other body contouring procedures have historically been discouraged in overweight or obese patients. That reflects concerns that increased body mass index (BMI) may increase the risk of wound healing problems and other complications.

The researchers analyzed the outcomes of tummy tuck surgery in 46 overweight/obese patients over a 12-year period. The patients were 41 women and five men, average age 49 years. All had a BMI of 25 or higher, with an average BMI of 32. (A BMI of 25 or higher is considered overweight, while a BMI of 30 is the cutoff point for obesity.)

Eighty percent of patients underwent abdominoplasty, most often including a procedure to restore weakened or separated abdominal muscles. The remaining 20 percent had a procedure called panniculectomy to eliminate excess, “hanging” abdominal fat and skin. The researchers analyzed the outcomes of surgery, including complication rates and patient-rated outcomes.

Nearly half of patients had some type of complication. About 39 percent had minor complications, requiring office procedures or antibiotics. About nine percent of patients had major complications requiring a return to the operating room – mainly due to wound healing problems and/or fluid collections.

Thirty-six patients completed follow-up surveys an average of 15 months after their procedure. Ninety-four percent of patients were satisfied with the results of abdominoplasty/panniculectomy, while 97 percent stated they would choose to have the procedure again. Ninety-seven percent of patients said the procedure had improved their quality of life. Nearly half of patients said they lost additional weight after surgery.

“Abdominoplasty and panniculectomy in the overweight and obese patient presents as a surgical decision-making challenge for the treating surgeon,” Dr. Hammond and coauthors write. Due to their increased risk of complications, patients are commonly advised to lose weight before undergoing body contouring surgery.

The researchers note, “Even with weight loss, the excess skin and fat…will not completely recede and can still present as an impediment to normal function and exercise.” While acknowledging the increased risks, they offered abdominoplasty or panniculectomy to overweight/obese patients “in an attempt to relieve the discomfort and physical effects of the excess skin and fat and offer the potential to jumpstart a weight loss process.”

The authors believe their results support this strategy. Although complications were frequent, most were minor and readily manageable, and many patients lost more weight after surgery. Dr. Hammond and colleagues conclude: “[E]ven in the face of this elevated complication rate, patient satisfaction is overwhelmingly high, making body contouring procedures in this patient population an acceptable option in appropriately selected patients.”

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If you love munching on nuts, here’s some good news. According to a study published in the British Medical Journal, increasing nut consumption by just half a serving of 14 grams a day could lower risk of obesity. Researchers suggested that substituting fried foods and processed meats with nuts could be a sustainable strategy to cut risk of weight gain that is often tied with ageing. Obesity is a condition where your Body Mass Index is very high. It is one of the biggest causes of concern around the world. Obesity has been linked with various metabolic diseases like diabetes.

Nuts are a source of healthy fats, vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals. Now, there is emerging evidence that shows a promising link between nuts and weight management. The study also suggested that the quantity of nuts may also play a crucial part. The long observational study tried to examine how a modest increase in nut consumption over the past two decades affected weight control.

For the US-based study, the researchers studied information on weight, diet and physical activity in three groups of people, out of which 51,529 were male health professionals, aged 40 to 75 when enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow Up Study.

Participants were asked to report their weight every four years of the 20 years of monitoring. They were also asked to state how often, over the preceding year they had eaten a serving (28 g or 1 oz) of nuts, including peanuts and peanut butter.

The study also took into account the average weekly exercise- walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, racket sports, and gardening- that was assessed every two years by questionnaire.

The findings revealed that the average annual weight gain across all three groups was 0.32 kg (0.71 lb). Increasing consumption of any type of nut was associated with less long term weight gain and a lower risk of becoming obese overall.

It was also revealed that increasing nut consumption by half a serving a day was associated with a lower risk of putting on 2 or more kilos over any 4 year period. And a daily half serving in increase of walnut consumption was associated with a 15% lower risk of obesity.

Within any 4 year period, increasing daily nut consumption from none to at least half a serving was associated with the reduction of 0.74 kg in weight, a lower risk of moderate weight gain, and a 16% lower risk of obesity, compared with not eating any nuts.

Consistently higher nut intake of at least half a serving a day was associated with a 23% lower risk of putting on 5 or more kilos and of becoming obese over the same time frame. Increased intake of peanut butter, showed no such associations.

This was an observational study and did not shed light on the causal effect of nuts on weight loss.

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A bigger waistline and high body mass index (BMI) in the 60s may be linked to the signs of brain aging by at least a decade, says a study.

“People with bigger waists and higher BMI were more likely to have thinning in the cortex area of the brain, which implies that obesity is associated with the reduced gray matter of the brain,” said study author Tatjana Rundek. The study has been published in the journal Neurology.

“These associations were especially strong among those who were younger than 65, which adds weight to the theory that having poor health indicators in mid-life may increase the risk for brain aging and problems with memory and thinking skills in later life,” said Dr Rundek,

The study involved 1,289 people with an average age of 64. Two-thirds of the participants were Latino. Participants’ BMI and waist circumference were measured at the beginning of the study.

An average of six years later, participants had MRI brain scans to measure the thickness of the cortex area of the brain, overall brain volume, and other factors.

A total of 346 of the participants had a BMI of less than 25, which is considered normal weight; 571 people had a BMI of 25 to 30, which is considered overweight; and 372 people had a BMI of 30 or higher, which is considered obese.

For the waist circumference, which can be different for men and women, the normal weight group, which was 54 per cent women, had an average of 33 inches, the overweight group, which was 56 per cent women, had an average of 36 inches, and the obese group, which was 73 per cent women, had an average of 41 inches.

Having a higher BMI was associated with having a thinner cortex, even after researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect the cortex, such as high blood pressure, alcohol use, and smoking.

In overweight people, every unit increase in BMI was associated with a 0.098 millimeter (mm) thinner cortex and in obese people with a 0.207 mm thinner cortex. Having a thinner cortex has been tied to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Having a bigger waist was also associated with a thinner cortex after adjusting for other factors.

“In normal aging adults, the overall thinning rate of the cortical mantle is between 0.01 and 0.10 mm per decade, and our results would indicate that being overweight or obese may accelerate aging in the brain by at least a decade,” Rundek said.

Rundek noted that the study does not prove that extra weight causes the cortex to get thinner. It only shows an association.

A limitation of the study was that, like many studies of older people, it is possible that the healthiest people are more likely to live longer and take part in studies, so that may affect the results.

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A number of medical experts are calling for obesity to be classed as a disease in order to encourage people to seek treatment.

John Wilding, professor of medicine at the institute of ageing and chronic disease at the University of Liverpool, and Vicki Mooney, executive director of the European Coalition for People living with Obesity (EASO), argue that the view obesity is “self-inflicted and that it is the individual’s responsibility to do something about it, is “inaccurate” and reinforces stigma around being overweight.

Instead, the pair believe that the role played by genetics combined with the illnesses created by obesity, such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and some cancers, means it should be defined as a disease.

According to the NHS, obesity is thought to affect around one in every four adults in the UK, and roughly one in five children aged 10 to 11.

Body mass index (BMI) is widely used as a simple and reliable way of finding out whether a person is a healthy weight for their height.

For most adults, the NHS states that having a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 means you’re considered to be a healthy weight. A person with a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered to be overweight, and someone with a BMI over 30 is considered to be obese.

Wilding and Mooney add that the Oxford Dictionary supports their argument with its definition of disease as “a disorder of structure or function … especially one that produces specific symptoms … and is not simply a direct result of physical injury”.

They also state that obesity, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that health may be adversely affected, has been considered a disease by the World Health Organisation since 1936.

“Studies in twins show that 40-70 per cent of the variability in weight is inherited,” Wilding and Mooney write in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) to bolster the theory that obesity is influenced by genetics.

“Body weight, fat distribution, and risk of complications are strongly influenced by biology – it is not an individual’s fault if they develop obesity.”

The pair add that recognising obesity as a chronic disease with severe complications rather than a lifestyle choice could help “reduce the stigma and discrimination experienced by many people with obesity”.

They write: “Instead of discouraging them from seeking treatment it should give them permission to do so.

“The stigmatisation of obesity leaves patients fearful of discussing their weight, and they turn to fad diets or non-prescription medication because they assume that their obesity is solely their responsibility.”

However, not all medical professionals agree with Wilding and Mooney’s stance on the issue.

In contrast, Dr Richard Pile, a GP from St Albans, said the Oxford Dictionary definition of disease “is so vague that we can classify almost anything as a disease”.

Also writing in the BMJ, Pile argues that recommending a change implies that current NHS and public health strategies are “doomed to failure without classifying obesity as a disease“.

”Labelling obesity as a disease risks reducing autonomy, disempowering and robbing people of the intrinsic motivation that is such an important enabler of change,” Pile adds.

“It encourages fatalism, promoting the fallacy that genetics are destiny.”

The debate in the BMJ follows calls from the Royal College of Physicians(RCP) in January for the Government and the NHS to urgently recognise obesity as a disease.

The RCP said it wanted to see obesity recognised as an ongoing chronic disease to allow the creation of formal healthcare policies to improve care both in doctors’ surgeries and hospitals.

It argued that obesity is not a lifestyle choice caused by individual greed “but a disease caused by health inequalities, genetic influences and social factors”.

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