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Obesity in Women May be Linked to Alzheimer's
Aired July 15, 2003 - 14:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well are overweight women more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease? Well a study suggests a possible association between a high body mass index and this form of dementia. Details are in "The Archives of Internal Medicine." CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now from New York to help explain all this -- Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra.
Really interesting study, actually, looking at one of the possible causes or one of the possible links between obesity and Alzheimer's disease. Sort of an interesting thing. They actually looked at women who were in the 70s and found that they have a higher incidents of Alzheimer's if they were obese. They had a higher incidence of Alzheimer's in their 80s.
A couple of quick facts, first of all. About 4 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. If you live to be 85-years-old you're going to have a 30 percent chance of actually developing some form of dementia like that. It's cause is still largely unknown which is why so much research has been dedicated to looking at the various possible links between Alzheimer's and other things, for example obesity.
Take a look at this particular study now, Kyra. This study actually came out of Sweden. They looked at 392 adults, 226 of them were women. They were followed from ages of 70 and 88. Again out of Sweden.
What they found was that a 70-year-old woman who was nearly obese, had a body mass index of around 29, she was more likely to develop Alzheimer's around the age of 88. Sort of an interesting parallel there. I'm going to talk about that.
Just a quick thing about body mass index as well, though, Kyra. This is sort of confusing thing, people really don't know a lot about body mass index because it's often in the metric system. People have a hard time actually making that conversion.
But take a look here. Body mass index is actually weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A lot of math there. But under weight below 18.5. Obese is 30 and over. The women that developed the Alzheimer's, 60 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer's had a BMI of about 29 at age 70 -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 15, 2003 - 14:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well are overweight women more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease? Well a study suggests a possible association between a high body mass index and this form of dementia. Details are in "The Archives of Internal Medicine." CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now from New York to help explain all this -- Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Kyra.
Really interesting study, actually, looking at one of the possible causes or one of the possible links between obesity and Alzheimer's disease. Sort of an interesting thing. They actually looked at women who were in the 70s and found that they have a higher incidents of Alzheimer's if they were obese. They had a higher incidence of Alzheimer's in their 80s.
A couple of quick facts, first of all. About 4 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. If you live to be 85-years-old you're going to have a 30 percent chance of actually developing some form of dementia like that. It's cause is still largely unknown which is why so much research has been dedicated to looking at the various possible links between Alzheimer's and other things, for example obesity.
Take a look at this particular study now, Kyra. This study actually came out of Sweden. They looked at 392 adults, 226 of them were women. They were followed from ages of 70 and 88. Again out of Sweden.
What they found was that a 70-year-old woman who was nearly obese, had a body mass index of around 29, she was more likely to develop Alzheimer's around the age of 88. Sort of an interesting parallel there. I'm going to talk about that.
Just a quick thing about body mass index as well, though, Kyra. This is sort of confusing thing, people really don't know a lot about body mass index because it's often in the metric system. People have a hard time actually making that conversion.
But take a look here. Body mass index is actually weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. A lot of math there. But under weight below 18.5. Obese is 30 and over. The women that developed the Alzheimer's, 60 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer's had a BMI of about 29 at age 70 -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
