Trial reporteLife2023
The effect of weight loss following 18 months of lifestyle intervention on brain age assessed with resting-state functional connectivity.
Trial report in eLife, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sustained visceral fat loss is associated with attenuated brain atrophy and improved cognitive function in late midlife.Nature communications · 2026Pooled it
- Deep learning-based BMI inference from structural brain MRI reflects brain alterations following lifestyle intervention.Human brain mapping · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Gut Microbial Release of Ferulic Acid From Germinated Quinoa Alleviates Obesity-Associated Cognitive Impairment by Activating Hippocampal Mitophagy Associated with PINK1/Parkin Pathway.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Association Between Relative Fat Mass and Risk of Cognitive Impairment: The Role of Social Determinants of Health.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2026Article
- Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Neuroimaging Biomarkers of Brain Health: A Scoping Review of Observational and Interventional Evidence.American journal of lifestyle medicine · 2026Review
- Fifteen years on: a review of the Cam-CAN study of the cognitive neuroscience of ageing.GeroScience · 2026Review
- Fitness and exercise effects on brain age: A randomized clinical trial.Journal of sport and health science · 2025Article
- The Role of Gut Microbiota in the Development and Treatment of Obesity and Overweight: A Literature Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- A narrative review about cognitive impairment in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD): Another matter to face through a holistic approach.Journal of advanced research · 2025Review
- Dilemmas in Elderly Diabetes and Clinical Practice Involving Traditional Chinese Medicine.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Mitigating Age-Related Cognitive Decline and Oxidative Status in Rats Treated with Catechin and Polyphenon-60.Nutrients · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Obesity negatively impacts multiple bodily systems, including the central nervous system. Retrospective studies that estimated chronological age from neuroimaging have found accelerated brain aging in obesity, but it is unclear how this estimation would be affected by weight loss following a lifestyle intervention. Methods: In a sub-study of 102 participants of the Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial Polyphenols Unprocessed Study (DIRECT-PLUS) trial, we tested the effect of weight loss following 18 months of lifestyle intervention on predicted brain age based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-assessed resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC). We further examined how dynamics in multiple health factors, including anthropometric measurements, blood biomarkers, and fat deposition, can account for changes in brain age. Results: To establish our method, we first demonstrated that our model could successfully predict chronological age from RSFC in three cohorts (n=291;358;102). We then found that among the DIRECT-PLUS participants, 1% of body weight loss resulted in an 8.9 months' attenuation of brain age. Attenuation of brain age was significantly associated with improved liver biomarkers, decreased liver fat, and visceral and deep subcutaneous adipose tissues after 18 months of intervention. Finally, we showed that lower consumption of processed food, sweets and beverages were associated with attenuated brain age. Conclusions: Successful weight loss following lifestyle intervention might have a beneficial effect on the trajectory of brain aging. Funding: The German Research Foundation (DFG), German Research Foundation - project number 209933838 - SFB 1052; B11, Israel Ministry of Health grant 87472511 (to I Shai); Israel Ministry of Science and Technology grant 3-13604 (to I Shai); and the California Walnuts Commission 09933838 SFB 105 (to I Shai).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
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 Socratic graph.