A lot pivots on whether your body type is the apple (excess weight around the middle) or the pear (more weight around the hips) – including how well your memory serves you. According to recent research, older women may experience memory problems if they have excess fat on their hips when compared with women who have extra fat located around their waist or midsection.
Increase in the Body Mass Index (BMI) was seen to be associated with a drop in a 100 point memory test called the Modified Mini-Mental Status Examination developed by researchers at Northwestern Medicine at Northwestern University.
So certainly obesity itself is linked to health and mental problems, but the locations of the fat on the body, is also an important factor.
The reason why pear shaped women may be worse off than their apple shaped sisters in terms of memory loss, may be due to the kind of fat that is deposited – Cytokines are hormones released by the predominant kind of fat in the body that can cause inflammation and this can affect cognition, according to researchers.
Where we store our fat is genetically determined and there is little we can do about that – we can however work towards having less body fat.
