過胖加速認知退化 對大腦不好 Obesity bad for brain by hastening cognitive decline

Being overweight is not just bad for waistlines but for brains too, say researchers who have linked obesity to declining mental performance.

將過胖與心智表現衰退連結的研究人員說，過重不只對腰圍不好，對大腦也不好。

Experts are not sure why this might be, but say metabolic changes such as high blood sugar and raised cholesterol are likely to be involved.

專家並不確定原因，但表示代謝的改變，例如高血糖與膽固醇升高，可能有關係。

The work, published in Neurology, tracked the health of more than 6,000 British people. The participants, who were aged between 35 and 55, took tests on memory and other cognitive skills three times over a 10-year period.

這份刊登在「神經科學」的研究，追蹤超過6000名英國人的健康狀況。參與者年齡在35歲到55歲之間，他們在10年間接受3次記憶力或其他認知技巧測試。

People who were both obese and who had unhealthy metabolic changes showed a much faster decline on their cognitive test scores compared to others in the study.

過胖且有不健康的代謝改變者，認知測試分數衰退的速度，要比其他參與研究者快。

新聞辭典

hasten：動詞，加快。例句：There is little doubt that poor medical treatment hastened her death.（醫療不佳無疑加速她的死亡。）

declining：形容詞，衰退的，來自動詞decline，衰退、下跌。例句：The party’s popularity has declined in the opinion polls.（這個政黨的人氣在民調中下滑。）

raised：形容詞，升高的，來自動詞raise，增加、調高。例句：The government is planning to raise taxes.（政府計畫增稅。）