Topic: Health
Title: Overeating may be linked to memory loss
Author: Amanda Gardner
Publication: CNN.com
Length: 573 words
In a recent study it ha been found that men and women in their 70s and 80s have a higher risk to mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the memory loss and mental-function problems that sometimes precede Alzheimer's disease, if their diet consists of a certain number of calories. The research has shown that a person who consumes a diet of 2,143 calories per day has more then double the odds of having MCI, the someone who has a diet of 1,526 calories per day or less. The study was performed at a Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, and had more than 1,200 people participate in the study. Although the study is still recent and a direct cause-and-effect relationship between high-calorie diet and MCI has not been proven. The lead researcher and associate professor of neurology and psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic, Yonas Geda, says that results will need to be confirmed with more studies in the future. He believes any conclusions at this point are to remain speculation. On the other hand federal officials recommend that men over the age of 50 have a diet of between 2,000 and 2,800 calories and women of the same age between 1,600 and 2,200, both depending on how active the participants are. But the main thing they stress is that a healthy diet requires a balance of calories and an active life to maintain a healthy life. No specific calorie amount can do that.
The idea that calorie intake effects memory is very unique. I was surprised to find that it suffered from excessive calorie intake because I would have expected that it would be the other way around due to lack of nutrition. I wonder, however, if this effects younger populations as well. Would a college student preform better if they ate more healthily? Also does this mean athletes would have worse memories than people who did not exercise but ate less?
ReplyDeleteI found this article very riveting with the fact that when women grow older and eat more they begin to loose their memory faster. It goes to show that even if your old you still need to eat well because then you gain more and more risk to MCI (mild cognitive Impairment). Yonas Geda, the researcher, says that people with a calorie diet of over 2,143 have double the chances of getting MCI then people with a calorie diet of 1,526 and I found that absolutely striking. It is amazing what our medical field has been able to accomplish in the past years that we can measure how bad our memory loss is.
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