Overweight people can have trouble thinking properly, the study.

More than just your physical, health might be affected by the size of your waistline, says the new study that investigated the relationship between visceral fat and brain cognition, and found that people with excess body fat could have trouble with thinking properly.

Obesity in modern world has become an increasingly concerning problem with the world health organization estimating that global obesity rates have tripled since 1975, a troubling statistic by any metric that also may have serious implications for brains.

The health problems caused by being overweight or obese are pretty well understood by the science today. The centers for disease control and prevention noted that heavier people can expect higher risks of all-cause mortality as well as some nasty diseases.

High blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, stroke and osteoarthritis are just a few of the dangerous ailments that you could develop if you are considered to be overweight or obese. But now there’s a new reason to be alarmed; obesity could affect your brain.

Findings…

In a new study published in the lancet, researchers discovered that individuals with a lot of excess body fat also seemed to suffer from reduced cognitive functioning, but it is a little more complicated than that and one of the study’s co-authors explained why.

“We know from observational studies that obesity may be bad for our cognitive function, so in theory managing obesity may maintain or improve cognitive function,” Theresia Hndayani Mina from Nanyang technological university in Singapore explained.

Mina added that the findings from other trials of obesity risk management have been inconsistent, so the causal relationship between obesity and other metabolic risk factors and cognitive function was still unclear.

Mina wanted to resolve the inconsistencies in the science of obesity and brain health, so she took it upon herself to explore the question and developed a study that focused on multi-ethnic Asian populations because of the higher obesity burden in Asia-Pacific.

The study used epidemiological analysis from a cohort of 10,004 mainly ethnic Chinese, Malay and South Asian participants according to Psypost. The researchers collected biological samples from each individual and had them fill out a lifestyle questionnaire.

Cognitive functioning was then evaluated using a computer test that covered the human brain’s four major cognitive domains while each participant’s body fat composition was determined using dual x-ray absorptiometry scans, basically a sophisticated fat camera.

Results from the study found that 23 percent of participants were obese and that having too much visceral fat did have an effect on cognition. Metabolic health markers like HDL cholesterol were also related to poorer cognitive functioning.

In conclusion Mina says that a healthy brain needs a healthy body, this include not having visceral fat. So consider the health of your brain the next time you reach that extra piece of cheesecake, and don’t forget to exercise so you can eliminate your visceral fat.