cron-web.org

[A1CR]

We CRONies expect, based on empirical data, that we will
live longer. In our
elder years, what will be the quality of our lives? The
retention of our
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive abilities largely
will probably help
govern our http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_life in
later years. The
association of CR with our lower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index (BMI) has cast
CRONies to be
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underweight for our age and
sex. A new report
appears to find that the quintile of subjects of the study
that are
underweight by the BMI <20 description of underweight to
have the best
performance in cognition.

http://tinyurl.com/hkepj was the popular press report,
beginning:

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Blog
Back of the Pack
A fitting way to age
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 | 04:53 PM ET
By Peter Hadzipetros

If you are terrified at the thought of spending your final
days in a nursing
home-unable to manage much more than counting floor
tiles-you might want to
pick up the latest issue of Neurology, the official journal
of the American
Academy of Neurology.

... One article-- Relation between body mass index and
cognitive function in
healthy middle-aged men and women -- featured a study that
looked at the
connection between body mass index (BMI) and the ability to
think, learn,
and remember over time. More than 2,000 healthy men and
women in France were
divided into five groups, according to their BMI in 1996.
They were given a
series of memory tests. Five years later, the process was
repeated.

...

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http://tinyurl.com/fcbvq is the URL for the
not-yet-in-Medline publication
abstract:

NEUROLOGY 2006;67:1208-1214
Relation between body mass index and cognitive function in
healthy
middle-aged men and women
M. Cournot, MD, J. C. Marquié, PhD, D. Ansiau, PhD, C.
Martinaud, MD, H.
Fonds, MD, J. Ferrières, MD, MSc, FESC and J. B. Ruidavets, MD

Objective: To assess whether body mass index (BMI) is
associated with
cognitive function and cognitive decline in healthy men and
women.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we analyzed data
from 2,223
healthy workers aged 32 to 62 years at baseline. Medical,
psychosocial, and
environmental data were collected in 1996 and in 2001. We
tested cognitive
functions at baseline and at follow-up with word-list
learning (four
recalls), a Digit-Symbol Substitution Test, and a selective
attention test.

Results: Cross-sectionally, a higher BMI was associated with
lower cognitive
scores after adjustment for age, sex, educational level,
blood pressure,
diabetes, and other psychosocial covariables. A higher BMI
at baseline was
also associated with a higher cognitive decline at
follow-up, after
adjustment for the above-cited confounding factors. This
association was
significant for word-list learning. For the changes in
scores at word-list
learning (delayed recall), regression coefficients
were -0.008±0.13, -0.09±0.13, -0.17±0.14, and -0.35±0.14 (p
for trend <
0.001) for the second, third, fourth, and fifth quintiles of
BMI at baseline
when compared with the first quintile. No significant
association was found
between changes in BMI and cognitive function.

Conclusions: Body mass index was independently associated
both with
cognitive function (word-list learning and Digit-Symbol
Substitution Test)
and changes in word-list learning in healthy, nondemented,
middle-aged men
and women.