Much has been researched and written about how obesity can negatively affect your heart, lungs, liver, and many other valuable organs in your body, but what about your brain? MRI scans show how obesity affects the brain

Researchers from the University of São Paulo have found that the brains of teenagers struggling with obesity appear to show signs of damage that may be related to inflammation.

The group of researchers conducted out MRI scans on the brains of 59 obese adolescents and 61 healthy adolescents. They specifically used a technique known as tensor imaging (DTI) to analyze the condition of the brain’s white matter, the tissue containing the connecting branches of neurons, sometimes thought of as the “superhighway” between brain regions.  From DTI, the researchers derived a measure called fractional anisotropy (FA), which correlates with the condition of the brain’s white matter. A reduction in FA is indicative of increasing damage in the white matter.

The findings showed that obese adolescents tended to a reduction of FA values in the obese adolescents in regions located in the corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve fibers that connects the right and left hemispheres of the brain. The quality of the white matter was also lower in the obese teens’ middle orbitofrontal gyrus, a brain region related to emotional control and the reward circuit – an intriguing find given the link between obesity and abnormalities in the brain’s reward circuit.

According to researchers, the cause of the injury appears to be inflammation. They found that the extent of the damage was linked with marks of inflammation like leptin, a hormone made by fat cells linked to energy levels and fat storage. Some obese people also develop resistance to leptin, which allows them to eat even with a lot of fat. This difficults the weight loss process.

Poor white matter quality is also linked to higher levels of insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas to help regulate levels of glucose (sugar) in our bodies. Likewise, some obese people often suffer from insulin resistance,loften develop insulin resistance, which can lead to problems regulating blood sugar levels.

This isn’t the first study to highlight the link between obesity and brain health. A 2016 study of the brains of middle-aged obese people found their white matter appeared to be 10 years older than those of lean people of the same age. These profound changes in brain scans were also visible in their brain scans.

As stated earlier in this post, it is widely known how obesity affects different aspects of the body, the overall health and mental health.  New evidence emerges of the negative effects of obesity, highlighting the importante of effective treatments for the obesity epidemic.  Currently, bariatric surgery is the most effective and accesible treatment for obesity. If you or a loved one is struggling with weight control, contact us to find out if and which Weight Loss Surgery is best for you.

Sources: