Check out the study results based on “Skinny fat”

A study has been revealed that adults who are “Skinny Fat” – a combination of low muscles mass and strength in the context of high-fat mass- may be at risk of developing a decline in cognitive performance.

“Skinny fat” is a term for the medical condition- sarcopenic obesity, which says that people who are thin have high levels of body fat and visceral fat. Skinny fat people tend to have a standard weight and BMI, but not enough muscle and thus they are at high risk for health complications, such as Type-2 diabetes and heart diseases.

According to the results published in a journal, aging demonstrates that sarcopenic obesity or being “skinny fat” is associated with the lowest performance on global cognition, followed by sarcopenia and then obesity alone. It is also stated that obesity and sarcopenia together are  associated with a lower executive function such as working memory, mental flexibility, self-control, and orientation, the researchers said.

A professor from University of US said: “Sarcopenia has been linked to global cognitive impairment and dysfunction in specific cognitive skills including memory, speed, and executive functions,”

To conduct the study a research team used data from a series of aging and memory studies including 353 participants, with an average age of 69 years.

In the results they found consistent evidence to link sarcopenic obesity to poor global cognitive performance in the study subjects.

Changes in body composition including a shift toward higher fat mass and decreased lean muscle mass represent a significant public health concern among older adults as it may lead to various negative health outcomes including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.

“Sarcopenia either alone or in the presence of obesity, can be used in clinical practice to estimate potential risk of cognitive impairment,” said Magdalena I. Tolea, a research assistant professor at the FAU.