Increasing the calories you eat each day may not only have a negative effect on your waistline, it could also be damaging to your memory.

New research from the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., revealed that a large caloric intake – between 2,100 and 6,000 calories per day – could potentially double the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in people aged 70 years and older.

“The people we collected for this study - they are functioning independently in the community,” Dr. Yonas Geda, the author of the study and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, told FoxNews.com.  “ We went to their houses, they didn’t come to the clinic.  So it really represented real people in real life.  We asked people to complete a food frequency questionnaire, and then we did imaging of their brains to get our results.

To get their results, Geda and his team observed 1,233 people between the ages of 70 and 89 residing in Olmstead County, Minn.  The participants had no history of dementia, but 163 of them had MCI.  Each of them reported the amount of calories they ate or drank each day by filling out a questionnaire.

Ultimately they were all placed into one of three categories: those who ate between 600 and 1,526 calories per day, those who ate between 1,526 and 2,143 per day, and those who ate between 2,143 and 6,000 per day.

Participants in the group with the highest caloric intake had a more than doubled chance of getting MCI compared to those in the group with the lowest caloric intake.  The middle group saw no significant difference.

“Not only did each category show differences, but we also saw a dose-response trend,” Geda said.  “This means that if you keep increasing and increasing caloric intake, then the risk of developing MCI keeps increasing.  So we looked at each category separately, and then we looked at [and observed] a trend overall.”

While the study showed a definitive trend between increase in calories and in MCI, the researchers simply looked at the amount of food each participant consumed and not the types of food that people ate.  But Geda said that was the next step.

“Actually one of my colleagues, Dr. Rosebud Roberts, is looking at [variations in food],” Geda said.  “We also have collected some information on these participants’ physical exercise and so we want to examine exercise washes out these findings, but preliminary data shows that no matter what if you’re caloric intake is high, then your risk is still high.”

Overall, Geda cautioned that people shouldn’t overstretch the findings of his study.  He said that there is a very simple take-away message.

“We don’t recommend starvation or malnutrition,” Geda said.  “Because starvation is a completely separate category, and we didn’t examine that.  We just don’t want people to look at our findings by saying, ‘I’m old, I shouldn’t eat because I’ll get MCI.’”

People trying to lose weight may swear by specific diet plans calling for strict proportions of fat, carbs and protein, but where the calories come from may not matter as much as simply cutting back on them, according to a study.

Researchers whose results were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found there were no differences in weight loss or the reduction of fat between four diets with different proportions of fat, carbohydrates and protein.

"The major predictor for weight loss was 'adherence'. Those participants who adhered better, lost more weight than those who did not," said George Bray, at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who worked on the study.

Earlier research had found that certain diets -- in particular, those with very low carbohydrates -- worked better than others, Bray told Reuters Health in an email, but there had been no consensus among scientists.

Bray and his colleagues randomly assigned several hundred overweight or obese people to one of four diets: average protein, low fat and higher carbs; high protein, low fat and higher carbs; average protein, high fat and lower carbs; or high protein, high fat and lower carbs.

Each of the diets was designed to cut 750 calories a day.

After six months and again at two years after starting the diets, researchers checked participants' weight, fat mass and lean mass.

At six months, people had lost more than 4.1 kg (9 lbs) of fat and close to 2.3 kg (5 lbs) of lean mass, but they regained some of this by the two-year mark.

People were able to maintain a weight loss of more than 3.6 kg (8 lbs) after two years. Included in this was a nearly 1.4 kg (3 lb) loss of abdominal fat, a drop of more than seven percent.

But many of the people who started in the study dropped out, and the diets of those who completed it were not exactly what had been assigned.

For example, the researchers had hoped to see two diet groups get 25 percent of their calories from protein and the other two groups get 15 percent of their calories from protein. But all four groups ended up getting about 20 percent of their calories from protein after two years.

"If you're happier doing it low fat, or happier doing it low carb, this paper says it's OK to do it either way. They were equally successful," said Christopher Gardner, a Stanford University professor uninvolved in the study.

"They did have difficulties with adherence, so that really tempers what you can conclude," he added.

In the end, he said, people should choose the diet that's easiest for them to stick with.

Whether your office is in the business district or on the dining room table, sitting immobile for hours in front of a computer screen is at odds with the fit body.

So fitness experts and entrepreneurs are thinking outside the box to transform the cubicle from sedentary prison to multitasking work and workout space.

"We've made Americans fat by putting them in cubicles," said Steve Bordley, CEO of TrekDesk.

His solution is a workstation designed to fit over a treadmill.

"There's an obesity issue in every developed country, including China. Anywhere they're sitting," said Bordley, from his treadmill desk during the telephone interview.

Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Bordley said he developed TrekDesk after a leg injury in 2008 crimped his active lifestyle.

"I couldn't run anymore so I started experimenting with a treadmill," said Bordley. "An epiphany occurred: Walking is a pretty powerful exercise. My back problems went away, I lost 26 pounds (11.8 kgs) and I slept great."

The daily goal for healthy adults in a walking program is 10,000 steps, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. Most sedentary adults walk less than 5,000.

Multitasking work and workout is in our genes, according to Bordley, who said he's already sold thousands of his product around the world.

"We've evolved over millions of years to be moving through the wilderness while hunting game. Our body was designed around that movement," he said. "It's the people who sit all day who have to fight lethargy."

When it comes to doing her paperwork, Minneapolis-based personal trainer and group fitness instructor Chris Freytag prefers to stand.

"I'm totally in love with my standing workstation," she said. "The treadmill desk is a great concept, but it's large. I would probably put mine in my basement and I'm not going to work in the basement."

As chair of the Board of Directors for the American Council on Exercise (ACE), Freytag is acutely aware of the need to move, even while forced to spend a lot of time at her desk.

For her the beauty of the standing workstation lies in its mobility.

"You can pull it into the family room or wheel it around the house," she said. "It's user-friendly and accessible and it literally changed my life."

She said just standing keeps her motivated and burns an extra calorie a minute.

For those on a tight budget, Dr. Cedric Bryant, ACE's chief science officer, has another solution.

"Invest on a headset," he said. "I handle all phone calls while standing or pacing."

He said getting outside the building is a growing corporate trend, and he holds as many standing, walking, or off-site meetings as he can.

"Another strategy would be to set your scheduling device to remind you to get out and move for five minutes on the hour," Bryant said.

Personal trainer and wellness expert Shirley Archer, the author of "Fitness 9 to 5," recommends stashing light dumbbells under your desk, or keeping resistance bands in your drawer.

People who eat lots of magnesium-rich foods such as leafy green vegetables, nuts and beans have fewer strokes, according to an international analysis covering some 250,000 people.

But the authors of the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, stopped short of recommending people take a daily magnesium supplement because their analysis focused on magnesium in food -- and it may be another aspect of the food that is responsible for their finding.

"Dietary magnesium intake is inversely associated with risk of stroke, specifically ischemic stroke," wrote lead author Susanna Larsson, a professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

The results suggest that people eat a healthy diet with "magnesium-rich foods such as green leafy vegetables, nuts, beans and whole grains," she added.

Larsson and her colleagues combed through research databases spanning the last 45 years to find studies that tracked how much magnesium people took and how many of them had a stroke over time.

In seven studies published in the past 14 years, about 250,000 people in the United States, Europe and Asia were followed for an average of 11.5 years. About 6,500 of them, or three percent, had a stroke in the time they were followed.

For every extra 100 milligrams of magnesium a person ate per day, their risk of an ischemic stroke -- the most common kind, typically caused by a blood clot -- fell by nine percent.

The median magnesium intake for U.S. citizens included in the analysis was 242 milligrams a day. The United States recommends that men and women over age 31 eat 420 and 320 milligrams of magnesium daily, respectively.

Most of the studies allowed the researchers to rule out other factors, such as family history.

But Larsson told Reuters Health in an email that she could not say whether other aspects of what the people ate partially or entirely explained the finding.

More in-depth studies are needed before researchers can say that the magnesium was what actually reduced the stroke risk, she added.

Other experts said the results were consistent with dietary recommendations.

"It's a diet that's rich in fruits, vegetables and grains. Those are things that have low sodium, high potassium and high magnesium," said Larry Goldstein, director of the stroke center at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

It's not easy being green, but it can be easy to be lean. Here's how.

Grin Yourself Thin
To maintain a healthy weight, do something to make yourself smile. Scientists in Brazil say serotonin, the "happy hormone," reduces appetite, and higher levels of it make you more likely to burn fat.

Crack Some Nuts
In an Eastern Illinois University study, people who were given shelled (that is, naked) pistachios ate 211 calories' worth while those who had the in-shell variety (you crack 'em open) consumed only 125 calories in the same sitting.

Put a Fork In It
Your non-dominant hand, that is. You'll be more mindful of what you're eating and probably end up consuming less. (Using chopsticks works, too, especially if you're not a pro.) Just have plenty of napkins on hand.

Use a Cheat Plate
With the Portion Plate ($12, theportionplate.com) you see partitions for meat (a quarter of the plate), whole grains (another quarter), and fruits and vegetables (half the plate), along with pictures of foods in the proper serving sizes to guide you.

Add Bison to Your Protein Herd
Grill up a 3-ounce buffalo steak every now and then. It has only 148 calories and 4 grams of fat. Plus, the 26 grams of lean protein in that bison steak can keep you satisfied enough to decline dessert.

Be an Early Bird
Late risers not only eat more calories (almost 200 more at dinner and another 375 after 8 p.m.) but also eat more unhealthily than those who wake up around 8 a.m., according to a Northwestern University study.

Eat with a Woman
Men consume 37 percent less when they eat with a wife or girlfriend than when they dine out with their buddies, according to researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo.