Study suggests obesity and poor memory are linked

A small study has indicated that if you are obese, your ‘episodic memory’ may be worse than if you were thinner, which would mean you have difficulty remembering past experiences.
50 volunteers took part in the study, with their BMIs ranging from 18 to 51. If your BMI is 18, it is classed as being healthy, whilst 51 is classed as being very obese. Episodic memory was tested, as the participants took a memory test.
The research team found that for those who were obese, their scores were 15 per cent worse than those who were not obese.
The research, which was published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, claimed that having a poorer memory of eating recently can result in people overeating, which can of course lead to you gaining weight and becoming obese.
Rats have been used before to indicate that waistline size could have an effect on memory performances.
“The suggestion we’re making is that a higher BMI is having some reduction on the vividness of memory, but they’re not drawing blanks and having amnesia,” said Dr Lucy Cheke, of the University of Cambridge.
“But if they have a less strong memory of a recent meal, with a less strong impact in the mind, then they may have less ability to regulate how much they eat later on.”

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