Neural correlates of obesity across the lifespan

Abstract

Abstract Associations between brain and obesity are bidirectional: changes in brain structure and function underpin over-eating, while chronic adiposity leads to brain atrophy. Investigating brain-obesity interactions across the lifespan can help better understand these relationships. This study explores the interaction between obesity and cortical morphometry in children, young adults, adults, and older adults. We also investigate the genetic, neurochemical, and cognitive correlates of the brain-obesity associations. Our findings reveal a pattern of lower cortical thickness in fronto-temporal brain regions associated with obesity across all age cohorts and varying age-dependent patterns in the remaining brain regions. In adults and older adults, obesity correlates with neurochemical changes and expression of inflammatory and mitochondrial genes. In children and older adults, adiposity is associated with modifications in brain regions involved in emotional and attentional processes. Thus, obesity might originate from cognitive changes during early adolescence, leading to neurodegeneration in later life through mitochondrial and inflammatory mechanisms.