Piling on the pounds damages our hearts, joints and arteries — this fact is well-established. What is less well-known is that being obese, or even just overweight, can also damage our brains. Not only can it alter the brain’s physical structure, triggering memory problems and an increased risk of dementia, but it can also prematurely age the grey matter — on average adding an extra 16 years Grey matter is the ‘thinking part’ of the brain, and consists of brain cells involved in muscle control, seeing, hearing, memory, emotions, and speech. The white matter is the ‘nerve motorway’ — the material that connects these cells to each other. Being overweight can change the way we think, too, affecting our judgment and making us crave even more high-calorie fodder. As a result, we seek out a food ‘fix’ in the same way a drug addict needs narcotics. With a quarter of adults and one in seven children in England thought to be obese — classified as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 30 — the implications are alarming.