Weight affects the IQ of a person
October 9, 2006
In a new study it has found that excess weight can injure your brain power. In the study mental abilities were compared with body mass index (BMI). BMI is the measurement of weight in relation to height which is used to define if a person is overweight or obese.
Maxime Cournot said "Middle-aged adults with a high BMI scored lower on memory and other mental ability tests than did middle-aged adults with a healthier body mass index."
Cournot added "Our results can have an additional motivational effect to modify health habits in people who are overweight. Our conclusions stress the need to implement preventive programs to control obesity before cognitive impairment, as minor as it may be, [occurs]"
In 1996 a research had been carried out in France in 2,223 healthy men and women who were aged 32 to 62. The heights and weights of all participants were recorded .All the participants were divided into five BMI groups in an ascending order of BMI.
A series of tests had been conducted of the participants in which a list of 16 words had been given to them and told to them to remember them either immediately or in a free call. The other test was for checking the attention of the participants.
The entire process was repeated again after five years and it is found that the person having lowest range of BMI (15-21.5) remembered nine of 16 words, while those having highest BMI (27.7-45) were able to remember just seven.
Cournot said "Those who had a higher BMI in 1996 tended to have a higher decline in mental abilities in 2001".
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