Being overweight 'reduces dementia risk' BBC

[Spareribs]

Phew! Perhaps every cloud does have a silver lining.....

"The results raise questions about the links between weight and dementia risk. Clearly, further research is needed to understand this fully."

bbc.co.uk/news/health-32233571

[shaws Administrator]

You cannot believe what you read, Spareribs. One minute if we are heavier = heart attacks and early death.

Now, if heavier we will prevent dementia. I think we will have to toss a coin for a decision.

[Spareribs in reply to shaws]

Lol! - that's why I'm here every night - I just can't believe it!

one point... Dr M Kendrick & heavier does not necessarily mean heart attacks, reading his 'Doctoring Data' and relative or absolute risk... what a load of blarney (as he says...)

I do think there is something in this 'tho... are us larger ladies less prone to osteoporosis? How much longer do we live 'off the fat'? - is it there for a reason? insurance porpoises?...who knows!

I was quite down today as had to buy 'fat' clothes for work, but hopefully I'll remember where I hid them...

[Hillwoman in reply to Spareribs]

I particularly enjoy looking at the obesity-mortality graph in Dr Kendrick's new book. Makes me grin every time!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

On that basis, my brain will last much longer than my body.

[Spareribs in reply to helvella]

60% longer...

[greygoose]

Well isn't that wonderful! I Wonder what other benefits they're going to find to being over-weight! Goes against our present culture of fat-shaming, of course, but I really think that a lot of the dire warnings about what will happen if you Don't lose weight are based more in préjudice than science!

Thank you for posting, Sparerib!

[Spareribs in reply to greygoose]

'bout time we had a break...

They've banned super-skinnies on the catwalk in France haven't they?

But I'm not sure, some can help being thin either.

My daughter models and photographs - folk told her she was skinny (but it's because she's tall - she eats like a horse!) So she went to the GP wondering why she seemed underweight - he told her to eat everything she shouldn't and gave her amitriptyline to gain weight! No tests. (I've probably recited this tale a few times - I was furious!).

Then she gets an invitation from Cambridge hospital wanting her to take part in a 'skinny' gene study!! She refused as she felt very let down.

[greygoose in reply to Spareribs]

Such a shame for your daughter! What a rotten doctor! I went to the doctor because I couldn't lose weight. He did no tests and din't even examine me, just wrote a presciption for some tablets - no idea what they were!

First day I took them, I passed out in the lab where I worked. At the time, I was washing a flask, and as I went backwards, the soapy water sloshed in my face. But it could have been a flask of acid or something!!! And I'd driven to work, what if I'd passed out then? The nurse was very angry he'd given me those tablets like that, and I never took them again.

I Don't know about the French catwalks. I'll have to ask my sons. They both work on the Fashion Weeks - like about once a month! It's always Fashion Week!

[hairyfairy]

Why don`t these so-called experts make up their minds? one day being fat will increase dementia risk, the next it can prevent it!

[Rebec]

Two members of my family gave me an insight into this 'revelation': brain consists of quite a lot of fat so people who reduce their fat intake might end up reducing something in the brain. All this being said, I noticed that old people tend to lose weight with age; maybe the body stops absorbing all the essential part of their food intake. I remember reading that red wine keeps dementia at bay too, but at the same time, alcohol kills brain cells! So I suppose, everything in moderation, neither too fat, nor too skinny! Now I look in the mirror and have happy thoughts! Maybe if I get to be 80, I won't develop dementia...

[Silver_Fairy]

Newspapers must take different slants on the same subject. I read yesterday that being underweight can cause dementia when older!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Silver_Fairy]

The Daily Mail in particular is renowned for contradicting itself on health issues day by day. On the basis that the reporters do have some sort of scientific announcements to base their stories on, we have to accept that this can be the nature of science. But when it is taken on board by the medical establishment as being absolutely true, and no-one is allowed to question it, that is seriously wrong. Even more especially when they don't change as new evidence is presented.

[Silver_Fairy in reply to helvella]

Just found it but as Im on a tablet have no idea how to do a link! It was in the Guardian a few days ago. The study is in the Lancet apparently.

[Spareribs in reply to Silver_Fairy]

Its the same study - as it says above...

"The analysis of nearly two million British people, in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, showed underweight people had the highest risk.

thelancet.com/journals/land...

Personally, and hopefully, I think this is an example of a study with 'surprising' results (against the 'grain') one of a few beginning to sneak out into the world instead of being suppressed & previously unpublished.

Sunshine is good again, butter is good, now fat has purpose...

all within moderation 'variety is the spice of life' quote Nainy (my mum)

Oh & 'funding - none'

[Silver_Fairy in reply to Spareribs]

But if you read the Guardian article it actually has a quote from one of the authors of the research saying that it doesnt mean being overweight saves you from dementia.

[Margo]

I read the same Silver_Fairy, I think it is all a conspiracy to frighten us, each week 'the experts' tell us something different. Everything in moderation, and make sure your thyroid is healthy and you should be ok, I reckon.

[faith63]

Being over weight from Hypothyroidism .. being swollen, Myxedema, Fluid, is going to make you sicker. Having a slow metabololism and getting Fat, is still bad on every organ, every cell.

[Spareribs in reply to faith63]

I agree, but why do bears hibernate?

[Chancery]

Well, my grandmother died of Alzheimer's, the ultimate dementia, and she was the size of a small house with a whale balanced on top - mostly because the dementia meant she didn't know she'd just eaten and so she ate again. And again, and again, and again... To me, the most amazing thing about that was she was in a care home. Assumably, they were feeding her, so why didn't they stop her? Was she scaling the wall every night and sneaking out for pies?

But she was NOT an advert for obesity saving you from dementia, so I'd take this story with an overweight pinch of salt.