Weight loss linked to dementia

LONDON, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- London researchers say dementia-associated weight loss begins before the onset of the definite dementia symptoms and accelerates by the time of diagnosis.

Published in the Archives of Neurology, the study found that a high proportion of men with dementia had lost about 11 pounds, which approaches 10 percent of average body weight about two to four years prior to reaching the clinical threshold of dementia.

"Incident dementia was associated with significant previous weight loss, which was independent of a large number of potential confounding factors," said Dr. Robert Stewart, of the Institute of Psychiatry in London.

An important consideration arising from the research is the extent to which weight loss might be prevented or minimized in dementia because poor nutrition and frailty frequently complicate later stages of dementia, causing falls, poor wound healing and increased physical dependence, said Stewart.