High Calorie Diets Can Mean Memory Loss
High Calorie Diets Can Mean Memory Loss
Yet another reason not to overeat: According to a recent study from the Mayo Clinic, there is a link between memory loss and a high calorie diet. People over 70 who consumed more than 2,143 calories a day doubled their risk of memory loss and mild cognitive impairment—a stage of decline beyond normal age-related changes when memory, language, and thinking start slipping.
“We observed a dose-response pattern, which simply means the higher the amount of calories consumed each day, the higher the risk of mild cognitive impairment,” explained study author Yonas E. Geda, a neurologist and psychiatrist with Mayo Clinic in Arizona. There is good news, though. People with diets that provide between 600 and 2,143 calories per day showed no memory decline over the eight-year study.
How and why weight affects brain function has worried medical researchers for the past decade; rising rates of obesity and Alzheimer’s disease have taken a staggering toll on long-term care. In the U.S. alone, more than 190 million Americans—two-thirds of the population—are overweight or obese. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the total yearly healthcare cost for weight-related medical conditions is $147 billion.