ABSTRACT
Obesity is one of the most important public health challenges facing our nation. Almost 70 percent of adult Americans are overweight; and of those individuals, approximately one-half can be classiŠed as obese (Flegal et al. 2010). Younger individuals are not immune to the development of obesity. Over the past two decades, the prevalence of obesity in this country has more than doubled for children ages 2-5 (5.0 percent to 12.4 percent) and 6-11 years (6.5 percent to 17.0 percent); and more
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 133 Associations between Obesity and Brain Function in Human Populations ........... 134
Adults ................................................................................................................ 134 Distribution of Body Fat and Cognitive Behavior ........................................ 135 Sex Differences ............................................................................................ 136 Obesity and Dementia .................................................................................. 136
Children and Adolescents .................................................................................. 137 Obesity and Brain Function in Experimental Animals .......................................... 139
Cognitive Assessments ...................................................................................... 139 Diet Composition .............................................................................................. 140 Duration of Feeding .......................................................................................... 141 Sex Differences ................................................................................................. 141
Potential Mechanisms Underlying the Interactions among Obesity, Brain Function, and Behavior .......................................................................................... 141
Obesity, Brain Structure, and Function ............................................................. 142 Hippocampus ................................................................................................ 142
Obesity, Glucose Regulation, and Brain Functioning ....................................... 143 Obesity, Oxidative Stress, and Inœammation .................................................... 144 Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) .................................................... 144 Lipids and Cognitive Functioning ..................................................................... 145
Future Directions ................................................................................................... 145 References .............................................................................................................. 146
than tripled for adolescents ages 12-19 years (5.0 percent to 17.6 percent) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2009). Moreover, while once primarily limited to the United States and other Western societies, obesity is rapidly becoming a global problem. It is estimated that worldwide 300 million adults are obese and 1 billion are overweight (World Health Organization 2009). As in the United States, obesity is not limited to adults. In 2010, 42 million children under the age of Šve were reported to be overweight with close to 35 million of these children living in developing countries (World Health Organization 2011).
