# What if being obese makes you stupid?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [March 6, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576 "2003-03-06T21:27:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/1 "2003-03-06T21:27:34Z")
I saw an interesting [study](http://aolsvc.health.webmd.aol.com/content/article/61/71441.htm?DEST=WebMD&contentSRC=aolmain) describing the effect of obesity on brain function. In short:
> [@](#):
>
> The study, published in the February issue of the International Journal of Obesity, found that obesity works independently – as well as in conjunction with other risk factors – to cause a decline in thinking ability, especially memory and learning.
Of course, as new as this is, there’ll be plenty of arguing over whether it’s valid, and whether the conclusions are being interpreted correctly. But what if it’s right? What if obese people tend to be less intelligent than the non-obese? What does this mean for the treatment of obesity in America?
As an aside, the study did not find a link between obesity and lowered mental function in women. Whether that’s deep and meaningful or a fluke of this study remains to be seen.
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### Author:  [@Tee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tee)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/2 "2003-03-06T21:54:00Z")
“What if obese people tend to be less intelligent…”
…after the fact? Then that would be one more reason to lose weight. That’s about it.
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/3 "2003-03-06T22:04:10Z")
I doubt it means much. The link is AO(hell) only, so I couldn’t read it. But how does it distinguish obese leading to stupidity, rather than stupidity leading to obeseness?
Also would there be a similar correlation between extreme thinness and stupidity. I would sort-of expect that extreme body morphology would in general lead to lower brain efficiency. Since humans seem to have developed particularly to have maximised brain power, and so we could expect average human morphology to be close to optimum for brain performance.
Cheers, Bippy
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/4 "2003-03-06T22:27:25Z")
Try [this link](http://my.webmd.com/content/article/61/71441.htm?lastselectedguid=%7B5FE84E90-BC77-4056-A91C-9531713CA348%7D) instead.
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/5 "2003-03-06T23:45:50Z")
Thanks for the new link. Does sound like a reasonable study (decent test group size, long duration) it is only one study though, so it will need verification. The idea poor blood circulation effects (high blood pressure, heart damage …) associated with obesity could well link to poor brain peformance sertainly makes sense. The brain needs lots of oxygen carrying blood to perform well, so any reduction in the blood flow would be reasonable to expect to reduce brain efficiency.
Cheers, Bippy
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### Author:  [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/6 "2003-03-07T05:53:11Z")
[http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/ijo/journal/v27/n2/abs/802225a.html](http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/ijo/journal/v27/n2/abs/802225a.html)
Thought I would link to the abstract, the full text requires a membership.
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### Author:  [@AubreyAnn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AubreyAnn)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/7 "2003-03-07T06:04:53Z")
Intelligence based on stimuli? How many over-weight young men were comfortable enough in high-school to raise their hand? How many over-weight young men think of themselves as losers-does intelligence and self-esteem go hand and hand? I think someone should study that
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### Author:  [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/8 "2003-03-07T06:10:08Z")
Great scott! Good thing I am keeping trim 😃
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/9 "2003-03-07T15:31:40Z")
This **can’t** be true!
I mean, everyone knows that the human brain consumes a huge amount of cholesterol in order to operate. Obese people tend to have higher serum cholesterol levels. They should be **better** at thinking, not worse!
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### Author:  [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/10 "2003-03-07T15:33:09Z")
I think bad eyesight makes you smarter.
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### Author:  [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/11 "2003-03-07T15:36:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by tracer \*
> **I mean, everyone knows that the human brain consumes a huge amount of cholesterol in order to operate.**
I was under the impression that the brain ran exclusively on glucose and other carbohydrates. Got a cite?
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-being-obese-makes-you-stupid/159576/12 "2003-03-07T15:45:18Z")
**Ultrafilter** : Ultra-whoosh. I think.
I can’t help but also think that much the same sort of thing could be said about the over-thin: not enough of juice to keep the body runnin’ properly; staying alive when you’re kinda starving gets priority over staying smart…