Obesity might harm the brain health of children and adolescents. According to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, researchers collected and analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, including over 5,000 children 9 to 10 years old. They measured each child’s body mass index – or weight adjusted for age, sex, and height. They used MRIs to identify changes in the children’s brains. The researchers found that higher weight in childhood is associated with poor brain health. Among obese children, they observed significant impairment to the integrity of the brain’s white matter, especially in parts of the brain associated with control, motivation, and reward-based decision-making.