Brain games showed an association between a thinner prefrontal cortex and poorer ability to reason, organize information, and decide.
The findings were published online Dec. 9 in JAMA Pediatrics.
Because this was an observational study that did not prove cause and effect, it's hard to say exactly how the association between weight and brain structure works, Laurent said.
It could be that obesity causes a thinner cortex, or it could be that a thin cortex leads to poor decision-making that causes obesity, she explained.
"Perhaps these particular children are making less appropriate decisions about what they eat or when they eat or how they eat," Laurent said. "We really don't know.
However, these results should serve as a wake-up call regarding the need to prevent childhood obesity, she added.
"Kids as early as 10 years old may be having metabolic dysfunction that's affecting their heart and their brain," Laurent said. "It hopefully is a public health alert that we really need to start addressing healthy eating behaviors and other healthy behaviors really early in life."
However, Laurent warned that these findings should not be used to contribute to any sort of fat-shaming.
"We don't want people to think if kids are obese, that they have a problem with their brain or that they're stupid," Laurent said. "It doesn't have anything to do with their intellectual capability."
Childhood obesity expert Dr. Eliana Perrin, who co-wrote an editorial accompanying the study, agreed with Laurent.
"I am definitely concerned that these findings could be used out of context to further stigmatize children and adolescents with obesity, and that stigma we know is very harmful," said Perrin, director of the Duke University Center for Childhood Obesity Research in Durham, N.C.
Perrin added that there might even be some as-yet-unknown additional factor that's influencing the kids' weight, brain structure, performance on brain games, or all three.
"Sometimes when people see that one thing happens alongside another thing, they think that first thing caused the other when we don't know that at all," Perrin said. "In research, this work is often stepwise. It's important that we not turn it into something it's not before we've completed all the steps."
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December 09, 2019 at 11:07AM
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Could Obesity Alter a Child's Brain Structure? - WebMD
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