Maintaining a healthy weight is not only important for our physical health, but emerging research suggests it may also play an important role in keeping our minds sharp as we age.
To explore this connection, researchers from Penn State’s Department of Nutritional Sciences studied adults over 65 and found that those whose weight dropped or fluctuated by more than 5 per cent were more likely to experience faster cognitive decline.
“We examined 11 years of data related to weight, body mass index and waist circumference,” said Muzi Na, associate professor of nutritional sciences and senior author of the study.
“We conducted three different types of analysis on how those measures compared to cognitive decline. Any way we looked at the data, the relationship was crystal clear — the more a person’s weight varied from year to year, the faster that person experienced cognitive decline.”
The study analysed information from 4,304 older adults participating in the National Health and Aging Trends Study between 2011 and 2021. Alongside weight measurements, researchers assessed memory, orientation, and executive function, combining these into an overall measure of cognitive health.
“As people age, their cognitive ability tends to gradually decline,” Na said.
“This is natural, and we saw that in this sample. But we also saw that people whose weight varied the most experienced more rapid cognitive declines.”
Participants were grouped by how much their weight changed during the study. Those with the most stable weight experienced the smallest declines, while those with the most fluctuations showed two to four times greater cognitive decline. Similar results were observed when looking at changes in waist circumference and BMI.
The findings suggest that keeping an eye on weight and aiming for stability in later years could provide valuable insight into cognitive health—and help support a sharper, healthier mind as we age.
In addition to maintaining a stable weight, staying physically active can also play a powerful role in protecting cognitive health.
Recent research from the University of Queensland has highlighted a specific type of exercise that can boost brain function in older adults—and the benefits can last for years.
As part of the study, Emeritus Professor Perry Bartlett and Dr Daniel Blackmore from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute had volunteers between 65 and 85 years of age perform exercises before undergoing brain scans.
In conjunction with Honorary Professor Stephan Riek and The School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at UQ, Bartlett and Blackmore assessed the impact of the following three exercise intensities:
Blackmore said it was high-intensity interval exercise that led to cognitive improvement that was retained for up to 5 years with Bartlett confirming that “six months of high-intensity interval training is enough to flick the switch”.
“In earlier pre-clinical work, we discovered exercise can activate stem cells and increase the production of neurons in the hippocampus, improving cognition,” Bartlett added.
“In this study, a large cohort of healthy 65 – 85-year-old volunteers joined a six-month exercise program, did biomarker and cognition testing and had high-resolution brain scans.
“We followed up with them 5 years after the program and incredibly they still had improved cognition, even if they hadn’t kept up with the exercises.”
These findings highlight that, alongside maintaining a stable weight, regular physical activity can be a powerful tool for keeping the mind sharp well into later life.
IMPORTANT LEGAL INFO This article is of a general nature and FYI only, because it doesn’t take into account your personal health requirements or existing medical conditions. That means it’s not personalised health advice and shouldn’t be relied upon as if it is. Before making a health-related decision, you should work out if the info is appropriate for your situation and get professional medical advice.
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