A study led by the University of Cambridge has revealed that middle-age obesity can have extremely detrimental effects on the brain.
The research, which involved 473 participants, found that overweight people had volumes of white matter comparable to lean people 10 years older. That is to say an obese person at 40 would have a similar density of white matter as a 50 year old with low body-fat.
Researchers found that this event is strikingly more prevalent from middle-age onwards, meaning you might still have time to change your habits.
White matter is a tissue that actively affects how the brain learns and functions, and allows information to pass between different areas of the brain.
The author of the study, Dr Lisa Ronan, said that it is not yet clear why overweight people would suffer a reduction in white matter when compared to lean people.
With that in mind, are we going to put this burger down? Maybe tomorrow.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
