Obesity, inflammation and cognition

- Obesity causes inflammation within adipose tissue which later spreads systematically.
- Obesity-induced inflammation also spreads into the brain affecting key components of cognition.
- In a vicious cycle, declining cognition aggravates obesity via the adoption of poor health habits.
- Obesity-induced cognitive defects could be reversed following weight loss.

Obesity provokes chronic low grade inflammation which contributes to the development of insulin resistance which ends up in Diabetes Mellitus, atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemias, polycystic ovary syndrome etc. In addition to their metabolic problems, obese individuals experience a progressive decline of their cognitive faculties. This decline may be a consequence of their metabolic disturbances, i.e. due to insulin resistance, diabetes-associate hyper- and hypoglycemias, atherogenesis of their vascular endothelium, hyperlipidemias, hypertension, etc. or due to a direct effect of obesity-provoked chronic low grade inflammation. On the other hand, a decline of cognition leads to poor life style choices which accelerate weight gain in a self-accelerating cycle. This review examines the role of obesity-induced chronic inflammation on aspects of cognitive faculties.Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences 2016, 9:169-175This review comes from a themed issue on Diet, behavior and brain functionEdited by Dana M Small and Susanne E la FleurFor a complete overview see the Issue and the EditorialAvailable online 17th May 2016http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.05.0042352-1546/Published by Elsevier Ltd.