A novel study has unveiled that overweight or obese middle-aged people have lower risk of developing dementia than normal or underweight individuals.

The study involving nearly two million people found that overweight and obese people were 30% less likely to develop dementia 15 years later than people who were having a healthy weight.

It was also found that underweight people were having 34% more chances to develop dementia than those having normal weight. Dr. Nawab Qizilbash, from OXON Epidemiology Ltd. in Madrid, Spain, said that the research was able to show an association and not the cause and effect relationship.

Qizilbash also affirmed that after going through study findings, people should not take them as an excuse to gain weight with an aim to prevent dementia. The study has also found a predictable increase in premature death risk among overweight or obese people.

The researchers said that more research is needed into the matter. “Our results should open new avenues for research for protective factors for dementia. They may be used to provide insight to looking for a mechanism and developing new treatments for dementia”, affirmed Qizilbash.

He affirmed that the research may also make doctors, public health scientists and policy makers to rethink how they should identify people who are at high risk of dementia.

In the study, nearly 20 years of medical records of almost 2 million British adults having average age of 55 at the start of the study were analyzed. During the 15 years of follow-up, 45,500 of the participants developed dementia.

Factors like drinking and smoking did not make much difference in the results. Dr. Malaz Boustani from the Indiana University School of Medicine said that once biological mechanism can support these findings then it may lead to new ways of treating or preventing dementia.