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Abdominal Fat May Predict Alzheimer’s 20 Years Earlier

Science has discovered a new way to predict whether you’ll develop Alzheimer’s disease – up to 20 years before the earliest symptoms appear. Which is great, because, the earlier your Alzheimer’s diagnosis, the more that can be done to treat it!

Visceral Fat - © 2021 Cleveland Clinic

A study presented at the recent annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) focused on the link between modifiable lifestyle-related factors – such as obesity, body fat distribu-tion and metabolic aspects – and Alzheimer’s disease pathology.

What they did

A total of 80 cognitively normal midlife individuals (average age: 49.4 years) were included in the study. A slight majority (62.5 percent) were female. Approximately 57.5 percent of participants were obese, and the average body mass index (BMI) of the participants was 32.31.

Subjects underwent an extensive program of different brain, body and muscle scans, plus a detailed panel of blood tests, Dr. Mahsa Dolatshahi of Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis continues.

What they found

“Our study showed that higher visceral fat was associated with higher […] levels of the two hallmark pathologic proteins of Alzheimer’s disease – amyloid and tau,” Dr. Dolatshahi says.

“Visceral fat is belly fat found deep within your abdominal cavity,” the Ceveland Clinic explains. “It surrounds important organs, including your stomach, liver and intestines. […] [Visceral fat] is dif-ferent than subcutaneous fat, which is fat just below your skin.”

“To our know-ledge, our study is the only one to demonstrate these findings at midlife where our participants are decades out from developing the earliest symptoms of the dementia that results from Alzheimer’s disease.”

The study also showed that higher insulin resistance and lower HDL [‘good’ colesterol] were asso-ciated with high amyloid in the brain.

The takeaway

“This work will have a considerable impact on public health because nearly three out of four Amer-icans are overweight or obese,” study report Senior Author Dr. Cyrus Raji declares.

“Knowing that visceral obesity negatively affects the brain opens up the possibility that treatment with lifestyle modifications or appropriate weight-loss drugs could improve cerebral blood flow and […] reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s disease.”

My take

An estimated 6.9 million Americans aged 65 and older are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. More than 11 million friends and family help provide care for them. And the Association estimates this number could grow to 13 million by 2050.

The total annual cost to care for today’s Alzheimer’s population is already more than (US)$300 billion, and rising.

If anything, Raji’s prediction, that the study’s findings will have a ‘considerable impact’ on public health, is an understatement…

~ Maggie J.