David PerlmutterPresident,, Perlmutter Health Center · Board-Certified Neurologist | Functional Medicine Pioneer | #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author | International Speaker | Host of The Empowering Neurologist Podcast

Extra Weight = Older Brain by 16 Years

12 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief monologue, the speaker warns that gaining weight reduces both the physical size and functional capacity of the brain. Citing a University of Pittsburgh MRI study, they note that obese individuals have about 8% less brain volume and their brains appear roughly 16 years older than those of healthy-weight people. The speaker also shares a personal anecdote about coming from an overweight family and struggling to lose 20 pounds, using the research as a motivational warning.

Chapters

As your weight goes up, the actual physical size and function of your brain goes down, which should scare the fat off anyone and scared it off me. I come from a family of overweight people and I sort of always had trouble losing that 20 pounds. And paper from the University of Pittsburgh came out looking at MRI scans and the people who were obese, they had 8% less volume in their brain and their brain looked 16 years older than healthy people.