Abdominal obesity or having an "apple-shaped " rather than a "pear-shaped" body at middle-age seems to increase the risk of dementia as you age  California researchers from Kaiser Permanente Division of Research  in Oakland report and the link between abdominal obesity and increased dementia risk doesn’t seem to be due to overall body weight and the presence of diabetes or cardiovascular disease  simply put – a big belly in middle-age is linked to dementia as you age