Thanks Annie - getting older means taking the time to stay in shape!

More motivation for slimming down my waist. ☺ Losing my mind literally....not a life goal. haha

Just to give a little perspective this study mentions 6.9% of the participants developed dementia. The average number of people who develop dementia is between 4% and 8%. The article is unclear if the age 50 was when they were measured or that the people were above 50.

well, guess I'm glad to be naturally pear-shaped, lol!

maifleur, I don't think the study was looking at anything preventative such as comparing incidents of those who lost weight vs those who didn't, so it's not surprising that the incidence would be in line with averages. Only that the people, esp women, with larger waistline circumferences and higher BMIs were the ones more likely to develop dementia than those carrying less fat. As the study didn't specifically highlight alzheimers, I'm suspecting the dementia may be related to old fashioned "hardening of the arteries" as we used to call it...arteriosclerosis. However, the study doesn't say why this is....only that the correlation exists.

Sorry but the people in the study probably ate some of the same things also.

Since the last time I checked there are over 70 different types of dementia a study this small without stating which type of dementia has little scientific worth.

I’m doomed.

I agree that fitness for one's age is important to one's physical and mental health.

But too many people, especially women, tend to equate fitness with being thin. Any study mentioning BMI immediately loses me. We need to get off the old, pretty much useless, BMI train. A good many strong, healthy athletes can never fit into the archaic BMI standards. You can also be thin-fat with little body strength and muscle tone. You can be overweight according the BMI charts and still have a strong healthy core. Weight is just a number. It is only one component of what constitutes good health. It's common sense that carrying excess weight in your mid section is not healthy.

For the last couple decades there have also been studies showing thinness increases dementia. Who to believe. I always go with correlation does not imply causation regarding these "studies".

Not to call myself a shrinking violet, but ... I've had to move a hole tighter on several belts lately, and punch a new hole on a couple that had no more available.

Less meat around collar bones, shoulders and thighs, as well.

ole (shrinking) joyful ... who claims not to be demented (yet, anyway)

maifleur, I wouldn't consider a study of over 6,500 people that started 18 years ago as being small. While they didn't define the type of dementia, they were consistent in testing and measuring for it. I wouldn't consider it any different than a study that associated, say, increased cancer rates with obesity as there are many different kinds of cancer as well, but the association may still exist. Further study may be needed to determine if the association is stronger with a certain kind or kinds of dementia or not, but IAC, I as a potential victim of dementia wouldn't really care what type it is, only that by keeping my waistline in control, I may avoid it.

wildchild, the authors recognized that waist circumference may be a better indicator than BMI which is why they used both.

Link to published study: https://academic.oup.com/ije/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ije/dyaa099/5861491#204909385

Could this be a question of "The chicken or the egg?" Perhaps it's an example of "mindless eating" in the extreme.