The more your waist expands, the bigger the loss of brain capacity later on

Maintaining a low waist-to-hip ratio in middle age could mean a better chance at staying mentally sharp in later life, researchers have concluded after studying several decades of health data for around 1,200 people.

The team of British, German, French and Dutch doctors found that a healthy diet in middle age, coupled with a low waist-to-hip ratio – a quick measure of fat distribution that may help indicate a person’s overall health – to be “associated with better brain and cognitive health in older age”.

The team said the data, which included multiple brain scans, diet records and waist-hip measurements, suggest healthy eating and keeping that tight waist-hip ratio leads to “enhanced hippocampal functional connectivity” – the ability of the hippocampus to connect with other regions of the brain for processes underlying learning and memory – and “white matter integrity”.

A healthy diet in middle age, coupled with a low waist-to-hip ratio, was associated with better brain and cognitive health in older age, researchers found. Photo: Shutterstock

The doctors found 40-somethings who were larger in the midriff area were more likely to display “poorer working memory and executive function” as they hit their seventies. Photo: Shutterstock

In contrast, forty-somethings who were larger in the midriff area were more likely to display “poorer working memory and executive function” as they hit their seventies.