In January, the Alliance held a briefing that discussed obesity in the U.S. aging population. Two experts in the field discussed the negative effects of obesity on chronic disease in this group. A new study presents more evidence that obese and overweight aging Americans could be putting their health at risk.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reports that healthy, older adults who cut their caloric intake by 30% had an increase in verbal memory scores in just 3 months. The other two groups in the study, a control and one which increased their intake of unsaturated fatty acids, saw no significant memory change in the 3 months. While similar results have been found in animals, this is the first study of its kind on humans.
Severe caloric restriction, while it has been shown to be beneficial in the laboratory, is not recommended in humans. However, this new study and the current information on obesity in the aging population show that aging Americans could improve their health in many ways by adopting a healthier lifestyle.
