Stabilization of body weight leads to improved memory
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Full women who successfully got rid of extra pounds, simultaneously improved their memory, - such conclusions were made by specialists after the study, the results of which were discussed at the XCV regular conference of the Community of Endocrinologists in San Francisco.
"Based on the results of our work, we can see that the violations of memorization processes provoked by obesity are reversible," says one of the organizers of the study, Andreas Pettersson, representative of the Swedish University of Umea.
The new study was a continuation of the previous one, during which it was found out that the episodic memorization of the complete people suffers and eventually becomes worse: it means remembering individual events and episodic circumstances.
During the study, the scientist and his colleagues intended to find out whether memory is restored after stabilization of body weight, and whether the overall functionality of the brain improves. Specialists used magnetic resonance imaging, with the help of which they were able to trace the brain activity of participants during the testing of memorization processes.
Twenty women aged around 60 years were involved in the study, and obesity was diagnosed in different degrees. Women were offered two healthy diet plans , each of which lasted six months. Nine participants chose for themselves the so-called "Paleolithic" diet (it is also the diet of Keivman, providing a ratio of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, like 30:30:40). The remaining eleven participants observed the Scandinavian diet, which involves the use of 15% protein, 55% carbohydrates and 30% fat.
At the beginning and at the end of the study, the participants were diagnosed with BMI and the fat tissue density level, and recorded episodic memory rates. Memory testing consisted in the fact that women compared images of people and their names in the right order.
During the study, the mean values of the body mass index in women decreased from 32.1 to 29.2.
The author of the research noted that the quality of memorization processes in all participants significantly improved simultaneously with the loss of excess kilograms. In addition, specialists have registered positive changes in brain activity.
"The fact that the processes of brain activity changed allowed us to assume that with the loss of weight, the brain structures become more active, which leads to better memorization of any information," the researcher sums up.
Of course, it is not entirely correct to draw similar conclusions on the example of two dozen volunteers. Such studies should be carried out more broadly - involving in the process of several hundred people, of different sex and age. However, such full-fledged experiments are not yet under discussion, since they require considerable expenses - and, first of all, financial ones. Perhaps, if there is a suitable source of funding, scientists will be able to confirm the results.
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