The study reviewed the brain images of 94 people in their 70s. They were followed for five years, and it was discovered that clinically obese people had 8% less brain tissue, while simply overweight people had 4% less brain tissue compared to normal-weight humans.

“The brains of obese people looked 16 years older than their healthy counterparts, while those of overweight people looked 8 years older,” study leader Paul Thompson said. “This is the first study to show physical evidence in the brain that connects overweight and obesity and cognitive decline.”

From Men’s Health:

Your being in shape could be worth a cool $60,000. According to an Ohio State University analysis, obese people have a lower net worth than slimmer counterparts. OSU researcher Jay L. Zagorsky found that for whites at least, there was a very strong correlation between total net worth and body mass index, or BMI.

In one 2000 sampling, whites with a BMI of 24 – within “normal” range – were worth $100,000, while those with a BMI of 42 – obese – were worth only $40,000. (For unknown reasons, the health and net wealth link did not seem to apply to African-Americans). And these figures don’t take into account the whopping cost of assorted medical events associated with being sedentary: $50,000 and up for heart bypass surgery; an annual, average, per patient cost of $10,000 associated with Type 2 diabetes (as a result of heart disease, eye damage, stroke, kidney disease, and amputation).