Obesity linked to lowering risk of dementia

Obesity is linked to a whole slew of illnesses like cancer,type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, just to name a few.

However, new research surprisingly finds that obesity can actually reduce your risk of a devastating and fatal condition: dementia.A study out of the UK found the link after analyzing data from nearly 2 million people over the course of decades.

According to the research by Oxon Epidemiology and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, underweight people had a 39 percent higher risk of dementia versus people of average weight. The shocking part is that overweight people had an 18 percent reduction in risk and those who are clinically obese, a 24 percent reduction.

The lead researcher told BBC News, "The controversial side is the observation that overweight and obese people have a lower risk of dementia than people with a normal, healthy body mass index. That's contrary to most if not all studies that have been done, but if you collect them all together our study overwhelms them in terms of size and precision."

It is important to note that while this study is certainly controversial, it's not the be all and end all in determining how weight correlates to risk of dementia. If nothing else, though, it certainly opens the door for further research.

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