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Belly fat is consistently linked to a variety of health problems. Now researchers say too much fat in the mid-section increases our risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Research published in the Annals of Neurology warns there is a strong connection between belly fat and dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

According to Sudha Seshadri, M.D. from the Boston University School of Medicine in the US …”our data suggests a stronger connection between central obesity, particularly the visceral fat component of abdominal obesity, and risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease."

A 2005 report from the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 24.3 million people have some form of dementia. Understanding the link between belly fat and dementia could be important for finding ways to prevent 4.6 million cases that the WHO also estimates occur annually.

For the study, researchers analyzed brain MRI results among 733 participants from the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort. Ave…

Researchers say sleep quality may be linked to a longer life. A new study shows that 65 percent of 2,800 people who were 100 years of age and older reported good or very good sleep quality.

The study also found that health problems seemed to be associated with poor sleep quality. “Age and health conditions are the two most important factors associated with self-reported sleep quality and duration,” said principal investigator and lead author of the study Danan Gu, PhD, faculty of the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University in Oregon.

The oldest adults studied, age 100 or over, were 70 percent more likely to report good sleep quality compared to younger adults, age 65 to 79. Forty six percent of study participants who reported not sleeping well also rated their health as poor.

For older adults who sleep well, the average duration was 7.5 hours a night. The study comes from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. China has the largest e…