Significant weight loss after undergoing bariatric surgery is beneficial for brain health.
- Bariatric surgery is recommended in cases of obesity.
- This operation helps to lose weight permanently, reduce the risk of obesity-related diseases and improve the quality of life of patients.
- The brain age observed is about 7 years higher than the chronological age in people suffering from severe obesity.
“People with obesity tend to have older brain ages, reflecting poorer brain health likely due to gray and white matter atrophy associated with excess body fat. unclear if obesity-associated brain aging can be reversed after weight loss and improved cardiometabolic health.” wrote researchers from Laval University, Canada, in a study published in the journal NeuroImage.
Three databases containing brain images were used
As part of this research, the scientists used three databases containing brain images. They used the first database, containing information on 640 normal-weight adults, to develop a model. The latter helps determine what constitutes a normal change in gray matter density with age.
The second database made it possible to compare the brains of 46 patients with severe obesity with those of 46 people of the same sex and the same age, but having a normal weight. Next, the team used their model to examine brain development in 32 volunteers who had undergone bariatric surgery. The images had been taken two months before the operation as well as 4, 12 and 24 months after the surgery.
“Improved brain health” thanks to weight loss
“We saw a significant improvement in brain health,” the authors said. According to them, the brains of the participants had rejuvenated by 3 years, one year after the surgery. Two years after the operation, he was 5.6 years younger.
According to the results, the greater the reduction in body mass index, blood pressure and insulin resistance, the more pronounced the rejuvenation. Researches “suggest that the abnormalities observed in the brains of people with severe obesity can be corrected by significant weight loss and the consequent improvement in cardiometabolic health”the scientists concluded.
