A new study has found shocking facts about obesity: obese people have "severe brain degeneration". It means that they have 8 percent less brain tissue than those of a normal weight.

Older people were also found to have brains which appear 16 years older to that of leaner people. The study found that the obese people have clogged arteries thus reducing the blood flow and oxygen to the brain hence causing this depletion in the brain.

Paul Thompson, senior author of the study and professor of neurology at UCLA, said "that's a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer's and other diseases that attack the brain, but you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimer's, if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control."

The brain scans of the obese people showed a loss of brain in the frontal and temporal lobes, which are responsible for planning and memory. Other areas showing a similar loss are anterior cingulate gyrus(control attention and executive functions), hippocampus (long term memory), and the basal ganglia(movement).