New studies suggest that obese individuals, particularly those with high levels of deep abdominal fat, may be at a much higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease-related proteins in the brain, potentially up to 20 years before symptoms of dementia.
The study, presented on December 2 at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago, focused on Alzheimer’s disease pathology during midlife, particularly in individuals in their 40s and 50s—when the disease is in its earliest stages. These years are critical because early behavioral changes, such as reducing abdominal fat, may be most effective in preventing or delaying the neurodegenerative disease.
In light of this, midlife obesity is the biggest preventable risk factor of Alzheimer’s disease in America; meanwhile, she underlined the hope on lifestyle modification including the ideal nutrition and regular exercise alongside certain medication used and approved by FDA and capable to prevent the onset.
The study’s findings, however, indicate that fat in the abdominal area can be very harmful because it goes deep into the belly of the abdomen and is commonly associated with low blood circulation to the brain and an increase of proteins associated with Alzheimer’s diseases, including beta-amyloid and tau. Higher levels of the good cholesterol, HDL, may mitigate the effects of deep belly fat on these proteins.
Alzheimer’s
The study followed 80 cognitively normal participants with a mean age of 49.4 years, 58% of whom were classified as obese. The techniques used in this research used advanced brain imaging methods such as PET and MRI scans and studied the relationship between abdominal fat and brain health. And the results found that increasing visceral fat greatly contributed to the accumulation of beta-amyloid, considered a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer’s.
Experts agree that these findings underline the importance of managing deep belly fat in reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s, though some caution that further research is needed to confirm causality. Dr. Kyan Younes from Stanford Medicine suggests that future studies should explore whether these associations hold in non-obese individuals.
