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Visceral fat is associated with lower executive functioning in adolescents.

ABSTRACT: Obesity, a major risk factor for cardiometabolic disease, is associated with lower cognitive performance from childhood to senescence, especially on tasks of executive function. In the cardiovascular domain, fat stored viscerally rather than elsewhere in the body carries particularly high risk. It is unknown whether this is also true in case of obesity-cognition relationships. The aim of this study was to assess the cross-sectional relationship between visceral fat (VF) and cognitive performance in a community sample of healthy adolescents.In a community-based sample of 983 adolescents (12-18 years old, 480 males), VF was quantified using magnetic resonance imaging, total body fat was measured using a multifrequency bioimpedance, and cognitive performance was assessed using a battery of cognitive tests measuring executive function and memory.We found that larger volumes of VF were associated with lower performance on six measures of executive function (P=0.0001-0.02). We also found that the association of VF with executive function was moderated by sex for a subset of measures, such that relationship was present mainly in female subjects and not in male subjects (sex-by-VF interaction: P=0.001-0.04). These relationships were independent of the quantity of total body fat and a number of potential confounders, including age, puberty stage and household income.Our results suggest that the adverse association between obesity and executive function may be attributed to fat stored viscerally and not to fat stored elsewhere in the body. They also suggest that female subjects compared with male subjects may be more sensitive to the potentially detrimental effects of VF on cognition.

SUBMITTER: Schwartz DH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5061567 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Visceral fat is associated with lower executive functioning in adolescents.

Schwartz D H DH Leonard G G Perron M M Richer L L Syme C C Veillette S S Pausova Z Z Paus T T

International journal of obesity (2005) 20130605 10

<h4>Background</h4>Obesity, a major risk factor for cardiometabolic disease, is associated with lower cognitive performance from childhood to senescence, especially on tasks of executive function. In the cardiovascular domain, fat stored viscerally rather than elsewhere in the body carries particularly high risk. It is unknown whether this is also true in case of obesity-cognition relationships. The aim of this study was to assess the cross-sectional relationship between visceral fat (VF) and co ...[more]

PMID: 23797144

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Project description:Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS) is a rare imprinting disorder characterized by prenatal and postnatal growth retardation. The two principal causes of SRS are loss of methylation on chromosome 11p15 (11p15 LOM) and maternal uniparental disomy of chromosome 7 (UPD(7)mat). Knowledge of the neuropsychological profile of SRS remains sparse and incomplete even if several difficulties related to attention and learning have been reported both in the literature and by patients with SRS. These difficulties could be the result of troubles in different cognitive domains, but also of executive dysfunction. Nevertheless, executive functioning has never been investigated, even though executive functions play an essential role in psychological development, and are extensively involved in daily life. The present study explored the executive functioning of individuals with SRS due to UPD(7)mat or 11p15 LOM. A battery of executive tasks assessing cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory, together with a task assessing sustained attention, was administered to 19 individuals with SRS (13-39 years) and 19 healthy controls. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function was also completed by the participants' families. The results showed that participants with SRS had similar performance (z-scores) to our controls, in a context of normal intellectual efficiency. Group comparisons with Bayesian statistics showed a single difference between the 11p15 LOM and control groups: the completion time for part A of the Trail Making Test appeared to be longer in the 11p15 LOM group than in the control group. However, at the clinical level, several participants with SRS had clinically significant scores on various measures of EFs. Thus, the cognitive phenotype of SRS did not appear to be characterized by executive dysfunction, but individuals with SRS could be at high risk of developing executive dysfunction or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. These results provide new insights into the neuropsychological profile of individuals with SRS.

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Visceral fat is associated with lower executive functioning in adolescents.

Publications

Visceral fat is associated with lower executive functioning in adolescents.

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