A recent study revealed that several brain areas, including regions that play an essential role in learning and memory and the control of emotion, are larger in adolescents who are spending lives with obesity.
The study raised concerns that obesity affects not only physical health but also learning, memory, and emotional control.
Lead researcher Dr Augusto César F. De Moraes of UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in Austin, Department of Epidemiology, Texas, USA stated:
"This is particularly alarming, given that the teenage years are such an important time for brain development."
How obesity in teen negatively impacts several brain regions?
In the US, it is projected that more than one in three children between the ages of 5 to 14 (36.2% of boys and 37.2% of girls) are living with overweight or obesity.
Obesity has been associated with changes in brain development in the past, with regions key to cognition.
Health disparities, including poor access to quality education, protected neighbourhoods, and healthy food, are popular contributors to physical health problems; however, their role in brain development and cognition is often minimised.
Dr De Moraes and colleagues in the US, Brazil, and Spain assessed data from 3,320 participants in the ABCD study, a current research project into the effect of childhood experiences on brain development and overall health.
A study involved children from 17 U.S. states over four years (2016–2018 and 2020–2022) to analyse the effect of abdominal obesity on brain development.
The average baseline age was 9.9 years, with 47.4% being girls. Around 34.6% of participants had abdominal obesity.
Using MRI scans, researchers discovered that teens suffering from abdominal obesity had larger subcortical brain structures, particularly the hippocampus (6.6% larger) and amygdala (4.3% larger).
The hippocampus region is associated with memory and learning, while the amygdala regulates emotions.
The amygdala was found to be enlarged in teens with high waist-to-height ratios.
Other brain regions, including the thalamus and caudate, also showed an increase in size but to a lesser extent.
Researchers warned that such abnormal growth, expectedly associated with inflammation, may adversely impact emotional and cognitive development.
Lead author Dr. De Moraes highlighted that both overgrowth and underdevelopment in the brain during adolescence can be dangerous, possibly increasing the risk of cognitive issues later in life.
The findings underscored the significance of addressing childhood obesity and social inequality to support both physical and brain health.
