A sweeping analysis of more than 80 studies from Curtin University has quietly shifted the terms of how we understand dementia risk, moving the conversation away from the scale and toward the deeper question of what our bodies are made of. Researchers found that sarcopenia — the gradual erosion of muscle mass and strength that often accompanies aging — raises the likelihood of dementia by 42 percent, a figure that asks us to reconsider what it means to grow old well. The findings also reveal that obesity's relationship with cognitive decline is not fixed but shifts with age, growing more prote