Abstract:
Obesity is a common problem and tends to be rising in Thailand. A lot of obese people die prematurely from Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). The Ministry of Public Health must bill several billion baht annually. The factors that can damage the brain or decrease the brain efficiency are various. Currently, research supports that overweight and obesity can affect memory capabilities. Objectives: To compare the effects on the brain, especially, the memory ability by using the N-Back Task (2-Back Task type) memory testing and compare EEG power spectrum during N-Back Task training in the obese people and normal weight people. Method: Experimental in Clinic. The study was conducted in 50 volunteers with who aged 20-50 years, and divided the volunteer into 2 groups: 25 normal weight volunteers; all female and 25 obesity volunteers; 5 males and 20 females. Results: Two groups of volunteers were statistically significant difference in age (p-value = 0.046), weight (p-value = <0.001), height (p-value = 0.011) and BMI (p-value = <0.001) but the study result of N-Back Task (2-Back Task) memory testing had no statistically significant difference. The obese volunteers correct response less than the normal body weight volunteers at 1.36 points (p-value = 0.528), reaction time more than the normal body weight volunteers at 17.60 msec. (p-value = 0.706), omission more than the normal body weight volunteers at 1.20 points (p-value = 0.515) and error more than the normal body weight volunteers at 0.16 points (p-value = 0.679). The result of EEG power spectrum during N-Back Task training were no statistically significant difference. Delta power is the EEG power spectrum are the most different (0.02074). Gamma power is the EEG power spectrum are the smallest difference (0.00083). Conclusion: Obesity does not affect memory ability.