ArticlePediatrics2012
Obesity and metabolic syndrome and functional and structural brain impairments in adolescence.
Article in Pediatrics, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 121 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
121 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 270 citations in OpenAlex.
- Brain structural and functional changes in childhood and adolescent obesity: a systematic review of MRI studies.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- The effects of physical activity on brain structure and neurophysiological functioning in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2020Pooled it
- Physical activity, diet and other behavioural interventions for improving cognition and school achievement in children and adolescents with obesity or overweight.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Physical activity, diet and other behavioural interventions for improving cognition and school achievement in children and adolescents with obesity or overweight.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Longitudinal Associations Between Childhood Obesity and Academic Achievement: Systematic Review with Focus Group Data.Current obesity reports · 2017Pooled it
- Brain and behavioral correlates of insulin resistance in youth with depression and obesity.Hormones and behavior · 2019Trial
- The "Happy Heart" educational program for changes in health habits in children and their families: protocol for a randomized clinical trial.BMC pediatrics · 2015Trial
- An 8-month exercise intervention alters frontotemporal white matter integrity in overweight children.Psychophysiology · 2014Trial
- An eight month randomized controlled exercise intervention alters resting state synchrony in overweight children.Neuroscience · 2014Trial
- Metabolic adaptations of the tumor macroenvironment and their role in cancer progression and survivorship.Genes & development · 2026Review
- Adolescents Who Are Overweight or Obese Exhibit Weaker Spatial and Verbal Working Memory Compared with Healthy-Weight Peers.Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists · 2026Article
- One-month early time-restricted eating enhances cognition via white matter-cortical pathways in males with metabolic syndrome: evidence from TBSS and SBM analyses.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Is Adipose Tissue Inflammation the Culprit of Obesity-Associated Comorbidities?Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Review
- Review
- Western diet since adolescence impairs brain functional hyperemia at adulthood in mice: rescue by a balanced ω-3:ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids ratio.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Article
- Altered brain function and structure in youth-onset type 2 diabetes.European journal of endocrinology · 2025Article
- The impact of trans fatty acids on ADHD in relation to the gut microbiome.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Review
- Systolic Blood Pressure, Cardiovascular Health, and Neurocognition in Adolescents.Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979) · 2024Article
- Integrative insights into PNI: Low-grade chronic inflammation, skeletal muscle wasting, and brain impairments.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2024Article
- Childhood obesity's effect on cognition and brain connectivity worsens with low family income.JCI insight · 2024Article
61 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) parallels the rise in childhood obesity. MetS is associated with neurocognitive impairments in adults, but this is thought to be a long-term effect of poor metabolism. It would be important to ascertain whether these brain complications are also present among adolescents with MetS, a group without clinically manifest vascular disease and relatively short duration of poor metabolism.
methodsForty-nine adolescents with and 62 without MetS, matched on age, socioeconomic status, school grade, gender, and ethnicity, received endocrine, MRI, and neuropsychological evaluations.
resultsAdolescents with MetS showed significantly lower arithmetic, spelling, attention, and mental flexibility and a trend for lower overall intelligence. They also had, in a MetS-dose-related fashion, smaller hippocampal volumes, increased brain cerebrospinal fluid, and reductions of microstructural integrity in major white matter tracts.
conclusionsWe document lower cognitive performance and reductions in brain structural integrity among adolescents with MetS, thus suggesting that even relatively short-term impairments in metabolism, in the absence of clinically manifest vascular disease, may give rise to brain complications. In view of these alarming results, it is plausible that obesity-associated metabolic disease, short of type 2 diabetes mellitus, may be mechanistically linked to lower the academic and professional potential of adolescents. Although obesity may not be enough to stir clinicians or even parents into action, these results in adolescents strongly argue for an early and comprehensive intervention. We propose that brain function be introduced among the parameters that need to be evaluated when considering early treatment of childhood obesity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.