The results confirmed the presence of a relation between executive functions and overweight/obesity , although the directionality of this relation was not clear ; nor did any single executive function emerge as being more involved than others in this relation .
Despite this , there was evidence of a reciprocal influence between executive functions and overweight/obesity .
Conclusions : This systematic review underlines the presence of a relationship between executive functions and overweight/obesity .
Moreover , it seems to suggest a bidirectional trend in this relationship that could be the cause of the failure of interventions for weight reduction .
Background : The increasing incidence of people affected by overweight or obesity is a significant health problem .
The knowledge of the factors which influences the inappropriate eating behaviors causing excessive body fat is an essential goal for the research .
Overweight and obesity are significant risk factors for many health diseases , such as cardiovascular problems , diabetes .
Recently , many studies have focused on the relationship between body weight and cognitive processes .
Objectives : This systematic review is aim ed to investigate the existence and the nature of the relationship between excessive body weight ( overweight/obesity ) and executive functions , analyzing cross-sectional , and longitudinal studies in order to verify the evidence of a possible causality between these variables .
Cognitive function predicts weight loss after bariatric surgery.
BACKGROUND Clinical ly significant cognitive impairment is found in a subset of patients undergoing bariatric surgery .  These difficulties could contribute to a reduced adherence to postoperative lifestyle changes and decreased weight loss . The present study is the first to prospect ively examine the independent contribution of cognitive function to weight loss after  bariatric surgery .  Executive function/attention and verbal memory at baseline were expected to negatively predict the percentage of excess weight loss ( % EWL ) and body mass index ( BMI ) at follow-up . Three sites of the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery parent project were used : Columbia ( New York , NY ) , Cornell ( Princeton , NJ ) , and the Neuropsychiatric Research Institute ( Fargo , ND ) . METHODS A total of 84 individuals enrolled in the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery project undergoing bariatric surgery  completed a  cognitive evaluation at baseline . The BMI and % EWL were calculated at the 12-week and 12-month postoperative follow-up visits . RESULTS Clinical impairment in task performance was most prominent in tasks associated with verbal recall and recognition ( 14.3 - 15.5 % of the sample ) and perseverative errors ( 15.5 % ) . After accounting for demographic and medical variables , the baseline test results of attention/executive function and memory predicted the BMI and % EWL at 12 months but not at 12 weeks . CONCLUSIONS These results have demonstrated that baseline cognition predicts for greater % EWL and lower BMI 12 months after bariatric surgery . Additional work is needed to clarify the degree to which cognition contributes to adherence and the potential mediation of cognition on the relationship between adherence and weight loss in this group
The results confirmed the presence of a relation between executive functions and overweight/obesity , although the directionality of this relation was not clear ; nor did any single executive function emerge as being more involved than others in this relation .
Despite this , there was evidence of a reciprocal influence between executive functions and overweight/obesity .
Conclusions : This systematic review underlines the presence of a relationship between executive functions and overweight/obesity .
Moreover , it seems to suggest a bidirectional trend in this relationship that could be the cause of the failure of interventions for weight reduction .
Background : The increasing incidence of people affected by overweight or obesity is a significant health problem .
The knowledge of the factors which influences the inappropriate eating behaviors causing excessive body fat is an essential goal for the research .
Overweight and obesity are significant risk factors for many health diseases , such as cardiovascular problems , diabetes .
Recently , many studies have focused on the relationship between body weight and cognitive processes .
Objectives : This systematic review is aim ed to investigate the existence and the nature of the relationship between excessive body weight ( overweight/obesity ) and executive functions , analyzing cross-sectional , and longitudinal studies in order to verify the evidence of a possible causality between these variables .