Obesity and dementia: understanding how to reduce your risk
Living with obesity may increase your risk of developing dementia later in life, studies have shown. Understanding the connection between the two can empower you to take action to reduce this risk.
This article will guide you through the links between obesity and dementia, explain how weight loss can help, and provide practical steps for improving your health.
If you’ve struggled to lose weight in the past, support is available. At Oviva, our NHS-accredited programme provides expert guidance, personalised care, and access to weight loss medication like Wegovy to help you lose weight sustainably and manage your long-term health.
Key Takeaways
- Studies show living with obesity between the ages of 35 and 65 can increase your risk of developing dementia in later life by around 30%.
- Healthier habits, like a balanced diet and exercising more, can help you reduce your dementia risk.
- Obesity is not the only risk factor for dementia, but a holistic approach to well-being and a sustainable approach to weight management can help.
- Support is available if you’ve struggled to lose weight in the past. Oviva provides personalised care, lifestyle guidance and weight loss medication to lower your dementia risk and improve your health.
What is dementia, and how does it affect the brain?
Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of conditions that affect how the brain works, leading to symptoms like:
- Memory loss and forgetfulness
- A decline in mental sharpness and thinking speed
- Issues with language, like difficulty speaking
- Changes in mood and emotional control
- Problems with understanding
- Difficulties with problem-solving and judgement
- Movement issues and trouble with daily activities
Experiencing these symptoms in later life doesn’t always indicate dementia. It’s important to get a medical diagnosis. However, dementia isn’t a natural part of ageing – it’s a sign of cognitive decline that can make everyday life more challenging.
Maintaining brain health is important for ensuring you can enjoy your well-being, independence and longevity in later life.
While there is an established link between obesity and dementia, the good news is that you can take steps to minimise your risk by adopting positive and healthy behaviours.
How obesity increases dementia risk
Research shows that living with obesity during midlife (ages 35–65) can increase your risk of dementia by 33% in later life. This link can be explained by several factors:
Obesity-related health conditions
Obesity increases the risk of conditions like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, all of which are known to raise dementia risk.
Chronic inflammation
Excess fat in the body can trigger chronic inflammation. A 2022 study (Ahmad et al.) found that this ongoing inflammation is linked to a higher chance of cognitive decline and dementia in later life.
Brain size and obesity
According to the Alzheimer’s Society, the brain naturally shrinks with age. However, research suggests that a high BMI may speed up this process, leading to a greater reduction in brain size around the age of 60, which further increases dementia risk.
Obesity is defined as a BMI over 30 (over 27.5 for people from specific ethnic minority backgrounds). You can calculate your BMI using our free BMI calculator if you’re unsure.
What can you do to reduce your risk of dementia?
It’s important to understand that drastic action is not necessary to reduce your dementia risk.
Instead, if your BMI is over 30, it’s best to try to adopt a sustainable approach to gradual weight loss to improve your well-being and reduce your health risks.
Balanced diet
Rather than opting for a “quick fix” or restrictive diet that’s all about the foods you need to avoid to lose weight, focus on simply eating a balanced diet.
Simple is the keyword – you don’t need to make drastic overnight changes. Make switches that you can keep up long-term. Here are some ideas:
- Cook more meals from scratch, but keep it simple. Stick to 30-minute recipes to ensure you can fit them into your current lifestyle. For inspiration, you can follow our 7-day healthy meal plan for weight loss (complete with recipes).
- Use a smaller plate to help control your portion sizes.
- Try to make 50% of your plate vegetables, 25% lean protein and 25% starchy carbohydrates.
- Switch out sugary drinks for sparkling water.
Make healthy swaps for your unhealthy snacks. Be kind to yourself here. For example, if you love a chocolate bar mid-morning, then swapping that out for vegetable sticks could be too hard of a switch. Instead, could you opt for a few squares of dark chocolate or some dark chocolate rice crackers?
Physical activity
Increasing your physical activity levels can also help with weight management, enabling you to retain muscle mass as you lose weight while boosting your metabolism.
The NHS recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, which includes walking up the stairs.
Cardio is great for supporting fat loss, burning calories, and enhancing heart health.
- Brisk walking: Aim for 30 minutes, 5 days a week.
- Cycling: Whether outdoors or on a stationary bike, this low-impact activity is excellent for calorie burning.
- Swimming: A full-body workout that’s easy on the joints.
- Dancing: Fun and engaging while helping to increase your heart rate.
- Running or jogging: Effective for calorie burning and improving endurance.
Strength training ensures you don’t lose muscle mass during your weight loss journey.
- Bodyweight exercises: Squats, push-ups, and planks are great for beginners.
- Resistance bands: Affordable and versatile for exercises like bicep curls or lateral band walks.
- Free weights: Use dumbbells for exercises like lunges, bench presses, or shoulder presses.
- Gym machines: The machines you can find at the gym are ideal for guided strength workouts.
- Compound movements: Exercises like deadlifts, squats, and pull-ups work multiple muscle groups simultaneously.
You could start by simply choosing one of the above for cardio, one for strength, and trying to build that into your routine 3-5 times a week.
Mental health
Weight loss and management can be emotionally challenging, and it’s essential to take steps to look after your mental health throughout your weight loss journey.
This can include seeking professional support, building a sound support system around you and being kind to yourself by celebrating your progress. Avoid being overly critical if you briefly stray from your weight loss plan.
Taking care of your mental health is a key part of well-being. That’s why we prioritise it as part of our weight management programme, with access to psychologists who can help you develop coping strategies and positive behaviours to protect your mental health.
Oviva patient success stories:
-22kg
Heidi (53)
-25kg
Martin (34)
-32kg
Patricia (53)
How can weight loss help?
According to the Alzheimer’s Society, healthy weight loss in midlife can boost your memory and attention span. If you’re living with overweight or obesity, losing 2 kg (4.5 lbs) can benefit you and lowering your BMI below 30 can significantly reduce your dementia risk.
However, it’s important to stress that your weight is not the only risk factor for dementia in later life – your overall health, lifestyle, and genetics can all play a role, too.
Sustainable changes vs. quick fixes
When trying to lose weight, it’s best to adopt sustainable behaviours that can ultimately become long-term habits. This means avoiding quick fixes and crash diets and making sensible adjustments to your lifestyle that you can continue with for the foreseeable future.
Crash diets often lead to short-term weight loss, followed by a weight loss plateau and weight regain. You’re more likely to stick to a diet that involves minor adjustments and focuses on sustainable improvements to weight management and overall well-being.
Weight loss medication
Weight loss injections can be combined with lifestyle changes concerning diet and exercise to improve your weight loss results. GLP-1 agonist medications work by reducing your appetite and increasing feelings of fullness after your meals, so you eat less and lose weight.
A recent, large-scale study revealed some exciting additional benefits of GLP-1s for dementia. Over 3.5 years, it tracked 215,970 diabetic participants taking GLP-1s against a control group of 1.2m diabetic participants receiving usual care. It found a link between taking GLP-1 medications and:
- A reduced risk of developing neurocognitive disorders like dementia.
- A 12% reduction in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia.
This suggests that, beyond supporting weight loss, GLP-1s may play a role in reducing the risk of dementia. In fact, this was just one of 42 different conditions that GLP-1s were found to improve.
If you’ve previously tried to lose weight without success and have a BMI over 30, access to weight loss injections through the NHS may be available to you via an approved weight management programme, like Oviva. However, there are strict eligibility criteria to ensure you are suitable for the medication.
Access to the Oviva programme is only available in England. If you’re living in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, we recommend speaking to your doctor about the support available.
But remember, while these medications offer benefits, it’s important to consider them in the context of your overall health and in consultation with a healthcare professional. It can be incredibly dangerous and harmful to your health to buy Wegovy online without the support and supervision of a medical expert.
How Oviva can support your weight
If you’re worried about the risk between your weight and dementia, remind yourself that there are steps you can take to minimise your risk.
Losing weight sustainably can make a big difference. If your BMI is over 30 and you want professional weight management support, you may be eligible for Oviva’s NHS-funded weight management programme.
You’ll have direct access to healthcare professionals, including dietitians, doctors and psychologists. They’ll help you create a personalised plan for weight loss, done remotely through an easy-to-use app. The app also allows you to set goals, keep a food journal, get real-time meal feedback and more.
If you’re eligible, you can also receive prescription weight loss medication on the NHS, delivered directly to your door.
Monitor your goals
Receive personalised recommendations to help you to work towards your goal. Log your food, mood, water intake, exercise and other health metrics using the Oviva app.
Keep a food journal
Snap photos of your daily meals effortlessly within the Oviva app.
Get meal analysis
Get an in-depth meal analysis instantly with a daily summary of your diet.
Stay connected
Connect with your Oviva coach anytime through the app.
Browse learning resources
Written by Oviva’s team of experts, explore advice on nutrition, exercise, and motivation to guide you through the programme and maximise long term weight maintenance.
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