Older obese people with mild cognitive impairment who lose a small amount of weight may see some improvement on tests of thinking skills, according to a new study.
Mild cognitive impairment causes slight but noticeable declines in memory and thinking skills, and increases the risk of Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia developing later, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
“Increased adiposity has been correlated with reduced volume in a number of brain regions,” said lead author Dr. Nidia Celeste Horie of the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine in Brazil. Calorie restriction has many benefits for humans, including reduced abdominal fat mass, and may also improve the resilience of synapses in the brain, she said.
