Teenage Weight Problems May Influence Midlife Mental Health

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted on PsychCentral.

It is a sad reality that being overweight or obese is prevalent among teens as well as adults. Currently, a third of the adolescent population in many developed countries are overweight or obese.

While it is well known that teen obesity can lead to a bevy of physical health issues, new research suggests problems with weight during adolescence, coupled with social economic status and physical development, can also impact mental health during adulthood.

To shed light on this issue, scientists at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine set out to determine the association between cumulative life course burden of high-ranked body mass index (BMI), and cognitive function in midlife.

The research, which will appear in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 55(3), was led by Prof. Jeremy Kark from the Braun School, in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Faculty of Medicine, working with colleagues in Israel and the United States.

Investigators used weight and height data from 507 individuals tracked from over 33 years starting at age 17. The participants completed a computerized cognitive assessment at ages 48-52, and their socioeconomic position was assessed by multiple methods.

Using mixed models (quantitative and qualitative research) the researchers calculated the life-course burden of BMI from age 17 to midlife. They then used statistical methods to assess associations of BMI and height with global cognition and its component domains.

“In this population-based study of a Jerusalem cohort, followed longitudinally from adolescence for over 33 years, we found that higher BMI in late adolescence and the long-term cumulative burden of BMI predicted poorer cognitive function later in life.

“Importantly, this study shows that an impact of obesity on cognitive function in midlife may already begin in adolescence, independently of changes in BMI over the adult life course,” said the paper’s senior author, Prof. Jeremy Kark of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

“Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that childhood living conditions, as reflected also by height, infuence cognitive function later in life. However, our study is unique in showing that an adverse association of higher BMI with cognitive function appears to begin in adolescence and that it appears to be restricted to adults with lower childhood socioeconomic position,” said Prof. Kark.

Source: PsychCentral
http://psychcentral.com/news/2016/12/09/teenage-weight-problems-may-influence-midlife-mental-health/113639.html