Alzheimer's & weight

Nutrition Action Healthletter, Oct, 2003

Women who were overweight in their 70s were more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease over the next 18 years than thinner women, says a study of 392 Swedish adults. The women who didn't get Alzheimer's had an average body mass index (BMI) of about 25, which separates normal and overweight adults. That's about 150 pounds for a 5'5" woman. Women who were later diagnosed with Alzheimer's had an average BMI of 29. That's around 175 pounds for a 5'5" woman. People with a BMI of 30 or above are considered obese.

Weight had no impact on Alzheimer's risk in men, possibly because the study had too few of them to see a link. And weight had no impact on the kind of dementia that's caused by strokes of clogged arteries.

What to do: A single study isn't definitive, but there are plenty of other reasons for women--and men--to stay lean.

Archives of Internal Medicine 163: 1524; 2003.