Nov 10, 2008 9:51 am US/Eastern
Study: Shedding Pounds Could Make You Smarter
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
There are many health benefits to losing weight, but now new research suggests that shedding the pounds could make you smarter, reports CBS station WFOR-TV in Miami.
In the U.S. where nearly 2 out of 3 Americans are overweight or obese, the demand for gastric bypass is booming. The procedure boasts a host of benefits including improving sleep apnea, lowering high blood pressure and cholesterol levels and possibly curing diabetes. Now new research suggests it could make recipients smarter.
Researchers at Stanford University found patients who had undergone gastric bypass surgery show improved abilities in memory, problem solving and attention to details.
"We saw a pretty big improvement across the board for these people," said Dr. John Morton who headed up the research. "This is the first study of its kind, so it's going to open up a lot of other avenues for research."
So why the brain boost?
The research team isn't sure but their study's findings suggest the answer may lie in belly fat which can release harmful chemicals into the body which trigger inflammation. Reduce the fat and the brain will benefit.
"We know the gastric bypass really improves insulin resistance it cures diabetes 82 percent of the time and at the end of the day that's really the main reason why patients had such a big improvement in cognition after surgery," Dr. Morton said.
This study only looked at brain power in people who lost weight following weight-loss surgery, but if you lost the same amount of weight by dieting without surgery, experts said it would likely have the same effect.
Nearly 140,000 gastric bypass surgeries are done each year in the United States.
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