{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]],"date-time":"2026-07-28T06:00:09Z","timestamp":1785218409622,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]],"date-time":"2026-07-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785196800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Childhood and adulthood adiposity may influence dementia risk and brain structure; however, their life-course interplay and potential sex-specific effects remain incompletely understood.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      We analyzed 488,397 UK Biobank participants with self-reported comparative body size at age 10 (categorized as thinner, average, or plumper relative to peers) and measured adulthood BMI, followed prospectively for incident dementia. Cox models estimated hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). A subsample (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f45,759) underwent brain MRI.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Compared with average childhood body size, a plumper body size at age 10 was associated with a higher risk of all-cause dementia (HR 1.12, 95% CI 1.04\u20131.20), particularly among men (HR 1.15, 95% CI 1.04\u20131.28), whereas a thinner body size was not significantly associated with dementia risk. In adulthood, overweight was associated with lower risks of all-cause dementia (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.81\u20130.92) and Alzheimer\u2019s disease (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.76\u20130.91), while obesity was associated with a higher risk of vascular dementia (HR 1.38, 95% CI 1.19\u20131.59) but not all-cause dementia. For body size trajectories, transitioning from thinner childhood body size to overweight in adulthood was associated with lower risks of all-cause dementia (HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.75\u20130.90) and Alzheimer\u2019s disease (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.67\u20130.88), whereas transitioning to obesity was associated with a higher risk of vascular dementia (HR 1.54, 95% CI 1.24\u20131.92). In addition, higher adiposity, particularly obesity, was associated with lower gray matter and total brain volumes and greater white matter hyperintensity burden.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Life-course adiposity patterns are associated with dementia risk and brain structural changes, with differences by subtype and sex. Childhood adiposity and weight gain may be linked to adverse outcomes, whereas moderate adiposity in adulthood was associated with lower dementia risk.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2026.1764658","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]],"date-time":"2026-07-28T05:34:58Z","timestamp":1785216898000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Associations of childhood-to-adulthood body size trajectories with dementia risk and brain structural imaging markers: a study from UK Biobank"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Zihang","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiovascular Surgery ICU, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China","place":["Hefei, Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanyan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Hefei, Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jun","family":"Chu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Respiratory Intensive Care Unit of Yijishan Hospital, Wannan Medical College","place":["Wuhu, Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chengwei","family":"Su","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Intensive Care Unit, Ding Yuan General Hospital","place":["Dingyuan, Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhixin","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Liver Transplantation, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China","place":["Hefei, Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Houren","family":"Xiong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiovascular Surgery ICU, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gongxia","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiovascular Surgery ICU, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University","place":["Hefei, Anhui, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e105","DOI":"10.1016\/S2468-2667(21)00249-8","article-title":"Estimation of the global prevalence of dementia in 2019 and forecasted prevalence in 2050: an analysis for the global burden of disease study 2019","volume":"7","year":"2019","journal-title":"Lancet Public Health"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"413","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30367-6","article-title":"Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2020 report of the lancet commission","volume":"396","author":"Livingston","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.1093\/ageing\/afv151","article-title":"The risk of overweight\/obesity in mid-life and late life for the development of dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 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