Bigger Belly Linked to Smaller Brain

By Deborah Huso

So you already know that the spare tire around your middle probably isn't good for your health, but it turns out, it isn't good for your mind either.

According to a new study published in Brain Research, having a bigger belly may not only put you at higher risk for chronic conditions like heart disease, it could also be reducing the size of your brain, particularly the areas that control your eating behavior.

A team of researchers at the New York University School of Medicine set out to uncover the impact of obesity on the physical structure of the brain. They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare the brains of 44 obese individuals against 19 lean people of similar age and background.

"The study found that obese individuals have more inflammation and smaller brain volume in areas that affect appetite and reward; whereas, lean individuals did not," Dr. Lisa Davis, corporate medical officer for Maryland-based weight loss company Medifast, told AOL Health.

Findings show that obese people had more water in the amygdala, a part of the brain that helps regulate eating behavior. The study also revealed that obese individuals had smaller orbitofrontal cortices, which are important for impulse control and also play a part in feeding behavior.

Davis describes this problem as "fatty brain syndrome."

"Fat tissue is inflammatory," she explains. "Inflammatory chemicals released by fat can alter brain circuitry in ways that may influence appetite and reward, and increase the drive for food, thus establishing a vicious cycle of more eating, more weight gain, more inflammation and more changes to brain circuitry that starts the cycle over again."

Davis believes this study, though small, carries weight, particularly since brain scans are showing evidence of brain inflammation and structure. Researchers controlled for factors, such as age hypertension, waist-hip ratio, and lipid and sugar levels, which could interfere with the results of the study.

Davis points out that while obesity issues can sometimes be explained away as having genetic causes, many overweight individuals also suffer from "reward deficiency syndromes" that leave them unable to detect when they're full. This, in turn, leads to plain overeating. The easy access our culture offers to high fat and high sugar foods doesn't help.

Mindful eating may help, Davis adds. That means eating more slowly, paying attention to how full you feel, and also keeping high fat and high calorie foods out of the kitchen in the first place to avoid temptation.-- AOLhealth.com