The particularly alarming ways that obesity affects teenage brains revealed in new study

Many people know that obesity carries certain health risks, as it makes you more likely to develop diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain cancers.But fresh research being presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity has experts concerned about the impact excess fat might have on the brain — especially in adolescents.

The study found that obesity in teenagers is linked to significant changes in brain structure, particularly in areas responsible for memory, learning and emotional regulation. “This is particularly alarming, given that the teenage years are such an important time for brain development,” lead author Dr.Augusto César F.

De Moraes, an epidemiologist professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, said in a press release.After analyzing the brain scans of over 3,300 teens, they discovered that those with abdominal obesity had notably larger volumes in several brain regions compared to those without abdominal obesity.Specifically, the hippocampus, which is crucial for memory and learning, was approximately 6.6% larger — and the amygdala, which regulates emotions like fear and happiness, was about 4.3% larger.These results raise concerns on how obesity affects the cognitive abilities of teenagers, both now and further down the line.

“Our findings suggest that obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, can impair teenagers’ learning, memory and control of emotions,” Moraes said.“I worry about how these changes, which are occurring at the age of 13 or 14, might affect them later in life.

There’s even a chance they could be [at] a higher risk of things like of memory problems or dementia as they get older.”The study also noted that adolescents from lower-opportunity areas exhibited reduced development in some key brain regions compared to peers in higher-opportunity areas.Moraes said the research “highlights the urgent need to address both social inequality and health risks to support not only phys...