Puget Sound Surgical Center

A recent report published by CNN suggests that older women with excessive fat deposits around their thighs experience more memory deterioration than women who are more round. The primary reason for this is the type of fat that is situated around the thighs and hips compared to the fat that’s located around the waist.

Medical scientists have differentiated multiple kinds of fat which release hormone cytokines. These cytokines can cause inflammation in the body which can affect a woman’s memory. The accumulation of thigh fat has a high concentration of cytokines and may also contribute to the formation of plaque in the blood stream, which restricts blood flow to the brain, and be linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

There have been many issues regarding the accuracy of the BMI method of which a person’s body fat is measured. Accordingly, the BMI method uses a measurement of weight as it relates to a person’s height to calculate body fat. Unfortunately, this method has shown itself to be flawed. Athletic people with a higher percentage of muscle and elderly people who lose height with age are often miscalculated and considered obese by the BMI standard.

The BMI continues to be the primary testing standard in most health agencies because it’s inexpensive and easy to do.

A recent study published by the Journal Pediatrics, suggests that a relatively easy and understandable measurement could be used in place of the BMI which uses the neck circumference as a determinate for total body fat.

More often than naught, a wide neck is often related with obesity type conditions like diabetes, sleep apnea and hypertension. It has also been studied for potential obesity related problems like heart disease as well.

The primary issue of the BMI method of testing for body fat is that it doesn’t properly measure the central fat. However, using the BMI method is a good start and then utilizing other methods to either backup or question it’s findings.