Big Belly Raises Alzheimer’s Risk

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Seniors/fit, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | (0) Comments

Some previous studies have shown that people who carry their excess weight around their waist are at higher risk for developing diabetes and heart problems. Now, a new study shows that a big belly has another possible serious consequence- Alzheimer’s. Reuters has an article with the details and it looks like we will have an epidemic of Alzheimer’s in the near future.

I think that at the very least, you can surmise that the lifestyle that results in a big belly has a lot of negative consequences that people need to be aware of.  Personally, I’d rather go fast from a massive heart attack than to slowly lose my mind from Alzheimer’s. I guess either are a distinct possibility for millions of Americans.

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Their study tracked 6,583 people in northern California for an average of 36 years starting when they were ages 40 to 45. Their abdominal size was measured at the outset of the study.

A total of 1,049 of them — nearly 16 percent — went on to develop Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia by the time they reached their 70s. Those in the upper 20 percent in terms of belly size in middle age were almost three times more likely to develop dementia than those in the bottom 20 percent of belly size, the researchers found.