In the past, there has already been a lot of research into the relationship between obesity and nervous system function - as an example, one scientist has observed that people with a tendency to eat too much may have less activity in the so-called prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for, among other things, planning various activities or phenomena related to maintaining self-control. It has also already been reported that obesity may increase the risk of cognitive dysfunction and dementia - all of which are reasons why researchers from the Netherlands decided to conduct their study.

The specialists conducted their analysis based on the results of head imaging examinations of 12,000 people. After careful evaluation of the material, the researchers came to some interesting conclusions - they observed, among other things, that obese men had a reduced amount of grey matter in their brains, and that there were also deficits of this tissue in the centres associated with the feeling of pleasure. In obese women, on the other hand, there were deficits of grey matter in the area of the globus pallidus, a structure that is involved in controlling the course of our planned movements.

Exactly how obesity would lead to various changes in the nervous system - this is unknown. The authors of the study pointed out that systemic inflammation co-existing with obesity may be responsible. The question of why excessive body weight adversely affects the central nervous system will probably only be answered by future, further studies.