What effect does obesity have on the brain? Research: Related to brain injury.

Obesity can lead to inflammation of the nervous system and may damage important areas of the brain.

Obesity is related to adolescent brain injury! A study published in the Radiological Society of North America pointed out that after scanning the brains of obese teenagers with a special magnetic resonance, it was inferred that obesity would cause inflammation of the nervous system, which might damage important areas of the brain. Pamela Bertolazzi, a biomedical expert at the University of S? o Paulo in Brazil, pointed out that these damaged areas are related to the control of appetite, mood and cognitive function.

Some brain regions of obese teenagers are damaged.

According to Newsweek, the research team can use diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) technology developed by magnetic resonance (MRI) to track the distribution of water molecules in brain tissue and obtain an index called FA (fractional anisotropy) to infer the degree of brain damage.

The research team analyzed the MRI results of 59 obese adolescents and compared them with 6 1 healthy adolescents aged from 12 to 16. The results show that the FA value of obese adolescents is low, including the frontal cortex of orbit, which is responsible for the reward circuit, and the corpus callosum, which connects the left and right brains and coordinates the movement of the left and right brains. The corpus callosum has 200 million neurons.

Abnormal secretion of inflammatory hormones in the brain

Field Science reports that these injuries are related to high levels of leptin and insulin. Leptin is produced by fat cells and is related to regulating appetite and fat storage. When there is enough body fat, people who do not respond to leptin resistance will continue to eat and produce more leptin. Insulin is secreted by the pancreas and helps to regulate blood sugar. Obese people will develop insulin resistance and increase the risk of second-line diabetes.

Pamela Bertolazzi said that the site of brain injury is related to these hormone abnormalities, and these inflammatory indicators also confirmed that obesity is a neuroinflammatory reaction, so it is necessary to check whether the inflammation is caused by brain injury in the future. She mentioned that she hopes to scan the brains of these teenagers again after treatment such as weight loss to assess whether these injuries are reversible.

According to the data of the World Health Organization (WTO), the number of overweight or obese babies in the world has increased from 32 million in 1990 to 4 10/00000 in 20 16, and the problem of childhood obesity has become increasingly serious.