Belly Fat Linked to Cognitive Problems in Older People

(Credit: Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock) If you're over 60 and, by BMI standards, overweight, it might not be such a bad thing. But there’s a catch. If you also have a fat belly, you're at risk for not only metabolic health issues, but also cognitive problems. That’s the conclusion of a study published this month in The British Journal of Nutrition. For years, scientists have seen a correlation between children who are overweight or obese and their performance on cognitive tests. In a study published in Obesity in 2008, more than 2,500 children ages 8 to 16 underwent a neuropsychological test, and those who were overweight or obese generally performed worse than those children who were normal weight. “On average, kids who are obese are at a disadvantage when it comes to school performance,” says Mark Mattson, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute on Aging, and who ...