New research links obesity to poor brain health in children

New research has determined that higher weight and body mass index (BMI) in pre-adolescence is associated with poor brain health.

The research, which was presented during the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, used imaging data from an Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study that included 11,878 children aged 9-10 years from 21 centers across the country to represent the national sociodemographic diversity. After excluding children with eating disorders, neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diseases, and traumatic brain injury, the study group included 5,169 children (51.9% female).

According to the children’s BMI z-scores ”“ which measures of relative weight adjusted for a child’s age, sex and height ”“ the overweight and obesity rates within the study group were 21% and 17.6%, respectively. After correcting for age, sex, race-ethnicity, handedness and socioeconomic status, the research team used linear models to determine associations between weight and BMI z-scores and the imaging metrics.

As a result, researchers observed structural brain changes in children with higher weight and BMI z-scores, including significant impairment to the integrity of the white matter. Areas of degradation included the white matter of the corpus callosum, the principal connector between the brain’s two hemispheres, and tracts within the hemispheres that connect the lobes of the brain.

“Increased BMI and weight are not only associated with physical health consequences but also with brain health,” said researcher Simone Kaltenhauser, a post-graduate research fellow in radiology and biomedical imaging at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven. “Our study showed that higher weight and BMI z-scores in 9- and 10-year-olds were associated with changes in macrostructures, microstructures and functional connectivity that worsened brain health.”