Monash University — MedicalXPress, 16 June 2022
A landmark 30-year study links childhood obesity and fitness to midlife cognition, providing the first significant evidence that early activity levels, fitness and metabolic health may protect against dementia in older years. Led by Dr Jamie Tait and Associate Professor Michele Callisaya from The National Center for Healthy Aging at Peninsula Health and Monash University, the study published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport followed over 1,200 people from 1985 when they were between 7 and 15 years old all the way to 2017–2019. In 1985, participants were assessed for fitness (cardiorespiratory, muscular power, muscular endurance) and anthropometry (waist-to-hip ratio), then followed up between 2017 and 2019 (aged 39–50, average age 44) for cognitive function using computerised tests.
The researchers found that children with the highest levels of cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, and lower average waist-to-hip ratio, had higher midlife scores in tests of processing speed and attention, as well as in global cognitive function. Importantly, these findings are not impacted by academic ability and socioeconomic status at childhood, or by smoking and alcohol consumption at midlife. “Because a decline in cognitive performance can begin as early as middle-age, and lower midlife cognition has been associated with a greater likelihood of developing mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older age, it is important to identify factors in early life that may protect against cognitive decline during later life,” said Associate Professor Callisaya. “Developing strategies that improve low fitness and decrease obesity levels in childhood are important because it could contribute to improvements in cognitive performance in midlife.”