BMJ  2005;331:454-455 (20 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7514.454-b

Letter

Obesity in middle age and future risk of dementia

Dietary fat and sugar may hold the clue

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Whitmer et al report further evidence supporting the association between obesity and dementia.1 Although the mechanism is still far from being understood, the authors alluded to the involvement of adiposity with inflammation and its markers.

One possible mechanism linking obesity with dementia is oxidative stress resulting from an increased intake of processed sugars and fats, which is the hall-mark of the modern diet. Rats maintained on a diet high in refined sugar and fat generated higher concentrations of free radicals.2 3 In contrast, caloric restriction in animals leads to reduced production of free radicals by mitochondria and increased longevity.4

Whitmer et al acknowledge that the lack of nutritional assessment was a limitation of their study. If such data had been available they would have shed light specifically on a possible relation between fat and sugar intake and risk of dementia, especially as a diet rich in these substances is . . . [Full text of this article]

Naji Tabet, senior lecturer in old age psychiatry

Postgraduate Medical School, Faculty of Health, University of Brighton, Brighton BN1 9PH n.t.tabet@brighton.ac.uk


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Relevant Article

Obesity in middle age and future risk of dementia: a 27 year longitudinal population based study
Rachel A Whitmer, Erica P Gunderson, Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, Charles P Quesenberry, Jr, and Kristine Yaffe
BMJ 2005 330: 1360. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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