Relationship between body mass index and brain volume in healthy adults
Abstract
There is a growing evidence that elevated body mass index (BMI) is associated with adverse neurocognitive outcome, though no study has examined whether morphometric differences are found in persons across the adult life span. We compared 201 healthy individuals in normal weight, overweight, and obese groups (aged 17-79). After correcting for demographic differences, obese individuals showed smaller whole brain and total gray matter volume than normal weight and overweight individuals. These findings support an independent relationship between BMI and brain structure and demonstrate that these differences are not limited to older adults.
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Obesity is linked to neurological changes such as Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, and brain atrophy, and obese persons show impairments on cognitive tests of attention, executive function, and memory.
“obesity has been linked with increased risk for neurological changes, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, as well as brain atrophy.4,5 Indeed, obese persons also exhibit impairments on formal cognitive testing, including on tasks of attention, executive function, and memory.6,7”
From Cognitive Function After Bariatric Surgery: Evidence for Improvement 3 Years After Surgery (2014) · cites this paper as [5]
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- Authors
- Gunstad, J., Paul, R. H., Cohen, R. A., Tate, D. F., Spitznagel, M. B., Grieve, S., & Gordon, E.
- Affiliations
- Kent State University (US)
- Brown University (US)
- Summa Health System (US)
- Venue
- International Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2008-01
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1582-1593
- ISSN
- 0020-7454 (ISSN-L)
- 1543-5245
- OpenAlex
- W2034591666
- Cited by
- 216
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 6.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (R01AG017975)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Keywords
- body mass index, brain volume, gray matter volume, obesity, overweight, neuroanatomy, brain morphometry, healthy adults, lifespan
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Atrophy, Brain, Cognition Disorders, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Organ Size, Reference Values, Body Mass Index, Young Adult
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