Overeating Raises Risk Of Mild Cognitive Impairment, Study Shows

Overeating may have effects beyond a big waistline -- a new study shows it could also affect seniors' memory.

A new study, to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in April, shows that elderly people who eat up to 6,000 calories a day may have a doubled risk of developing a type of memory loss called mild cognitive impairment.

"We observed a dose-response pattern, which simply means the higher the amount of calories consumed each day, the higher the risk of MCI," study researcher Dr. Yonas E. Geda, MD, MSc, of the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., said in a statement.

Mild cognitive impairment is more pronounced memory loss than what normally comes from aging, and is considered a risk factor of later developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease, according to the Mayo Clinic. Recently, a study in the journal Neurology showed that rates of mild cognitive impairment may be higher than previously expected, with men having a higher risk of the condition than women.

Geda's study involved 1,233 people who were between ages 70 and 89, who didn't have dementia; 163 of these people had mild cognitive impairment.

Researchers had the study participants say how many calories they ate or drank each day, and then they divided them up into three groups based on their caloric consumption. One group took in between 600 and 1,526 calories a day; the second group took in between 1,526 and 2,143 calories a day; and the third group took in between 2,143 and 6,000 calories a day.

Researchers found that the third group, which took in the most calories a day, were more than twice as likely to have mild cognitive impairment as the group that took in the fewest calories. These results held true even after researchers factored in history of diabetes and stroke, level of education and other memory-loss risk factors.

The recommended daily intake of calories differs by age group, sex and physical activity level, according to WebMD. For example, a woman between age 19 and 30 who is moderately active should consume between 2,000 to 2,200 calories a day, while a moderately active woman age 51 and older should get 1,800 calories a day. (For the full chart from WebMD, click here.)

Comments

[Barbara Modica Moore]

09:44 AM on 06/24/2012

Overeating as we age...

[hikerrd]

05:20 PM on 02/20/2012

I have a completely different take on this press release and their abstract. the conclusions drawn and put forth by the authors of both the study and the media articles are simply absurd!

Lori Lieberman, RD, CDE, MPH, LDN

www.dropitandeat.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-high-calorie-intake-could-make-me.html

[Lembransation]

04:44 AM on 02/14/2012

While this presents another reason to follow a balanced diet and not overeating, I'm not going to be avoiding eating the pizza pictured on the basis of it.

The affected target group covers a wide range, up to 6,000 calories. If the effect is dose-related it means those most affected are at the upper end of this range. Anyone overconsuming to that extent must surely have a whole host of health problems, particularly linked to circulation.

I suspect for those not overconsuming so markedly how we use our minds may be more significant. I read recently about people who could remember every day of their lives back into early childhood. If our minds have that capacity, I thought, perhaps the impression I have of my memory deteriorating as I approach fifty is more to do with lazy habits than aging or something physiological. Having made an effort to remember every day since then, I find it is both possible to do so and brings other benefits. I'm blogging about this here: http://lembransation.blogspot.com/

It won't surprise me if this study finding is used to promote diet plans and supplements to the general population, even if the finding really applies to people eating two or three times the recommended calorie intake.