Happy Thanksgiving

Safe travels to those still on the road, and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Just don't eat too much:

Using brain scans after tracking weight gain in women over nearly a quarter century, researchers made a disturbing finding: As the body gets larger, the brain gets smaller.

The study and other reports appearing today in the journal Neurology are the latest in a growing amount of research suggesting that traditional heart disease risk factors such as obesity and diabetes can increase the odds that a person will develop dementia.

In one study, a Medical College of Wisconsin researcher and scientists in Sweden found that being overweight or obese throughout adulthood increased the risk of brain atrophy.

The researchers followed 290 Swedish women over a period of 24 years and did scans of their brains at the end of that period - when they were between the ages of 70 and 84.

Those who were overweight at various points throughout the study were significantly more likely to have a loss of brain tissue in the temporal lobe, a part of the brain involved in several cognitive functions, including language, comprehension and memory.

I've been waiting for a reason to use this story. I give thanks for the opportunity to do so.