Obese people in middle age are at lower risk of dementia later

Paris

PEOPLE who are obese in middle age run a lower risk of developing dementia later, said a large and long-term study on Friday whose findings challenge the prevailing wisdom.

On the other end of the scale, however, being underweight in the 40-55 age bracket was associated with a higher risk, the researchers found. While admitting they were "surprised" by the potential protective effect of obesity, the team cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

The reasons for the observed association were not known, they wrote in the journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. "The message that people shouldn't take away is that it's okay to be overweight or obese," study co-author Nawab Qizilbash of the OXON Epidemiology rese…