Metabolically Healthy Overweight and Obesity, Transition to Metabolically Unhealthy Status and Cognitive Function: Results from the Framingham Offspring Study

Aims: 

To evaluate the association between metabolically healthy overweight/obesity (MHO) status and longitudinal cognitive function while also considering the stability of the condition. 

Methods: 

In total, 2892 participants (mean age 60.7 (9.4) years) from Framingham Offspring Study completed health assessments every four years since 1971. Neuropsychological testing was repeated every four years starting from 1999 (Exam 7) to 2014 (Exam 9) (mean follow-up: 12.9 (3.5) years). Standardized neuropsychological tests were constructed into three factor scores (general cognitive performance, memory, processing speed/executive function). Healthy metabolic status was defined as the absence of all NCEP ATP III (2005) criteria (excluding waist circumference). MHO participants who scored positively for one or more of NCEP ATPIII parameters in the follow-up period were defined as unresilient MHO. Results: No significant difference on the change in cognitive function over time was observed between MHO and metabolically healthy normal weight (MHN) individuals (all p > 0.05). However, a lower processing speed/executive functioning scale score was observed in unresilient MHO participants compared to resilient MHO participants (β = −0.76; 95% CI = −1.44, −0.08; p = 0.030). 

Conclusions:

Retaining a healthy metabolic status over time represents a more important discriminant in shaping cognitive function compared to body weight alone.