Excess weight in toddlers impairs their brain functions later in life

Scientists have suggested and some of the studies proved that obesity may play a major role in developing brains causing them not to develop fully.
The link between obesity and metabolic disorders have been proven long time ago but the studies show that those toddlers who were obese scored lower on the IQ tests later in life.

Scientists believe that early obesity and the metabolic changes it causes could impair cognitive functions in the brain. We are talking here about morbid obesity where the children weighed at least 150 per cent of their ideal body weight.

The researchers formed three groups. The first group included obese children, the second one children with Prader-Willi syndrome in which people eat all the time and become severely obese at very young age. And the third, control group included 24 normal-weight siblings who shared the same genetic and socio-economic background as the research subjects.

The study results showed that children with Prader-Willi sundrome scored 63 points, children who were obese as toddlers scored 78 while their normal-weight siblings scored 106 points on the IQ tests.

MRI brain scans showed that some of the children with Prader-Willi syndrome and early-onset morbid obesity children had lesions in the white matter of the brain. Such lesions are usually found in people who suffer from Alzheimer's disease. However, people who became obese later in life had no such problems because their brains developed normally in the childhood and were able to avoid the damage.

The study results are indicating that it is important to watch what children eat from the day one as cognitive impairment may be another obesity complication that could not be reversed.