A new study from the University of Califor¬nia in Los Angeles suggests that piling on the pounds can shrink the brains of older people, making them more vulnerable to cognitive problems.

According to Paul Thom¬pson, brains of elderly obese people looked 16 years older than the brains of leaner peers. The research involv¬ing 94 people in their 70s sho¬wed that people with higher body mass indexes had small¬er brains on average, with the frontal and temporal lobes important for planning and memory, respectively particularly affected.

While no one knows whe¬ther these people are more likely to develop dementia, a smaller brain is indicative of destructive processes that can develop into dementia.

The team also found that the brains of the 51 over¬weight people were 6 % small¬er than those of their normal-weight counterparts, on av¬erage, and those of the 14 obese people were 8% smaller. "The brains of overweight people looked eight years ol¬der than the brains of those who were lean, and 16 years older in obese people," New Scientist quoted Thompson as saying.

Thompson suggests that as increased body fat ups the chances of having clogged ar¬teries, which can reduce blood and oxygen flow to brain cells, the resulting re¬duction in metabolism could cause brain cell death and the shrinking seen.

He said that exercise pro¬tects the very brain regions that had shrunk. "The most strenuous kind of exercise can save about the same amount of brain tissue that is lost in the obese, “he said. ANI