Fat Bastards In The News - Fat Bastards at risk of restless legs syndrome

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Obesity may raise risk of restless legs syndrome
Mon, Apr 06 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who are obese may have an increased
risk of developing the neurological disorder restless legs syndrome
(RLS), researchers reported Monday.

In a study of more than 88,000 U.S. adults, researchers at Harvard
Medical School found that obese men and women were 42 percent more
likely to have RLS than normal-weight study participants.

Abdominal obesity, in particular, was linked to RLS risk. Study
participants with the largest waistlines had a 60 percent greater risk
than those with the trimmest midsections, according to findings
published in the journal Neurology.

RLS causes unpleasant sensations in the legs when a person is at rest,
triggering an uncontrollable urge to move the legs to get relief. The
cause is unknown, but researchers suspect that an imbalance in the
movement-regulating brain chemical dopamine plays a role. Drugs that
increase dopamine activity are sometimes used to treat RLS.

Past research has shown that obese adults tend to have lower dopamine
activity in the brain than their thinner counterparts, but the
relationship between obesity and RLS has been unclear.

"Our study suggests that obesity could be a risk factor for RLS," lead
researcher Dr. Xiang Gao told Reuters Health. However, the findings do
not prove that obesity leads to RLS, and further studies that follow
people over time are needed to confirm obesity as a risk factor, Gao
added.

In theory, dopamine could help explain the connection between obesity
and RLS. But Gao said there are likely to be multiple mechanisms
through which excess weight contributes to the neurological disorder.

One possibility, he noted, is the higher risk of heart disease among
overweight adults. Studies have found links between cardiovascular
disease and RLS, and it's thought that dysfunction in the blood
vessels may play a role in RLS.
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