Ever notice how a news story will use “obesity” even when that’s not really the point?
Example: A study looking for correlations between cognitive decline and metabolic syndrome, explicitly calling out fat. Headline? “Obesity ‘Bad for Brain’ by Hastening Cognitive Decline“.
At least one earlier study tied metabolic syndrome with cognitive decline, but didn’t explicitly called out “obesity”. Marketing fail?
Yes. I have noticed this. You are not alone.
I think that what most annoyed me about this is that metabolic syndrome is defined as “three or more of the following signs:
It’s hard to have a normal BMI if your waist is more than 35″.
Agreed. That also seems to be the one criterion that isn’t directly related to metabolism.
I’m not sure I understood the second study summary properly, but it seemed to indicate that metabolic syndrome alone had no poor effect – it was only the combination of metabolic syndrome plus inflammation that caused problems.
I also wonder how much of this can be attributed to the link between obesity and poverty – in the US, people with lower income levels are less likely to be well educated and also more likely to be fat. There may be a link with cognitive decline and risk of Alzheimer’s Disease in that, but establishing what are causes and what are effects may be difficult. (Unless you work for the media, and then “Save the fatties!” mindsets let you assume any answer you want.)
Re: the metabolic syndrome and inflammation, metabolic syndrome is tied to inflammation as well. One of the criteria for metabolic syndrome is larger-than-average a waist measurement.
I also wonder how much of this can be attributed to the link between obesity and poverty – in the US, people with lower income levels are less likely to be well educated and also more likely to be fat. There may be a link with cognitive decline and risk of Alzheimer’s Disease in that, but establishing what are causes and what are effects may be difficult. (Unless you work for the media, and then “Save the fatties!” mindsets let you assume any answer you want.)
Yup!
Of course the article you link recommends at one point that losing 7-10% of your present weight will help, and then later down recommends a BMI under 25. If losing 10% of your present weight puts your BMI under 25, then your present BMI is about 27.5
….indeed.
Former software tester, now retired heart patient having fun and working on building endurance and strength. See also About page.
Post Categories
Archives
Living ~400lbs 
Leave a Reply