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People who have large amounts of fat stored around their organs as they age may be at higher risk of developing Alzheimer\u2019s disease, a new study suggests.<\/p>\n
This type of fat isn\u2019t necessarily reflected in a high body-mass index.<\/p>\n
Visceral fat, which can accumulate around the organs of even people at healthy BMIs, is associated with changes in the brain potentially decades before any symptoms of cognitive decline are seen, according to the study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America on Monday.<\/p>\n
Visceral fat has previously been associated with systemic inflammation \u2014 which occurs when the immune system is constantly turned up even when there is no threat to health \u2014 and higher levels of insulin, both of which are thought to be involved in the development of Alzheimer\u2019s, according to the study\u2019s senior author, Dr. Cyrus Raji, a neuroradiologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to move beyond traditional conceptions of body fat, like BMI, and really look at the specifics of how fat is distributed to understand the health risks,\u201d Raji said.<\/p>\n
While it takes an MRI scan of the abdomen to confirm a person has visceral fat, there can be signs, Raji said.<\/p>\n
According to Raji, signs that you may have accumulated fat around your organs include:<\/p>\n
More than 6 million people in the U.S. live with Alzheimer\u2019s disease, according to the Alzheimer\u2019s Association. The group estimates that by 2050 that number will rise to 13 million.<\/p>\n
To take a closer look at the potential impact of visceral fat on the risk of Alzheimer\u2019s, Raji and his colleagues analyzed data from 54 cognitively healthy volunteers ages 40 to 60 who had average BMIs of 32. A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n
The researchers measured a host of health parameters, including insulin and blood sugar levels. Using MRI scans, they assessed the amount of fat just under the skin, as well as what was surrounding the organs. MRIs were also used to measure the thickness of the cortex \u2014 the outer layer of the brain responsible for functions such as speech, perception, long-term memory and judgment \u2014 which becomes thinner as Alzheimer\u2019s progresses.<\/p>\n
PET scans were used in a subset of participants to determine whether two proteins associated with Alzheimer\u2019s \u2014 tau and amyloid \u2014 were at higher levels.<\/p>\n
When the researchers analyzed the fat measurements and the brain scans together, they found that participants with more visceral fat had larger accumulations of amyloid in their brains, suggesting that they might be at higher risk of developing Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
Prior research has shown that inflammation and high levels of insulin, which can block the proteins that break down amyloid in the brain, are linked with visceral fat, Raji said.<\/p>\n
Because the earliest development of Alzheimer\u2019s in the brain can begin as much as 20 years before the first symptoms appear, the researchers plan to study the potential long-term impact of visceral fat by following up on the study\u2019s participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we started with a population at midlife,\u201d Raji said. \u201cWe want to see how it might play a role in the development of Alzheimer\u2019s, and that will give us an idea of the best window for effective interventions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The best way to lose visceral fat is through exercise, especially aerobic exercise, Raji said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not yet known whether getting rid of visceral fat can reverse its impact on the brain.<\/p>\n
Dr. Mary Ellen Koran wasn\u2019t surprised by the findings.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince we already know that visceral fat is linked to so many bad health outcomes, including those involving the heart, it makes sense that it\u2019s also linked to poor brain health,\u201d said Koran, an Alzheimer\u2019s imaging specialist and an assistant professor of radiology and biological sciences at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and School of Medicine. \u201cBut it\u2019s important that we do studies like this to define that link.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s more likely that an obese person will have both types of fat, thin people can also have visceral fat but not realize it.<\/p>\n
Koran said she\u2019s seen \u201creally skinny people who don\u2019t have much subcutaneous fat but a bunch of fat around their organs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Koran doesn\u2019t recommend that people hoping to protect their brains get scanned for visceral fat until more research confirms the link.<\/p>\n
While the number of people in the study is small, \u201cit\u2019s helpful that the researchers are looking at a younger group of people,\u201d said Alzheimer\u2019s specialist Dr. Joel Salinas, a neurologist at NYU Langone Health and chief medical officer at the Isaac Health Online Memory Clinic.<\/p>\n
Knowing who is at risk will allow people to start treatments earlier, Salinas said. \u201cYou want to stop the fire before the building burns down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Borna Bonakdarpour, a neurology researcher at Northwestern University\u2019s Feinberg School of Medicine, says the study doesn\u2019t prove that visceral fat causes damage to the brain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may simply be a marker for poor health,\u201d Bonakdarpour said. \u201cWe know that people who don\u2019t exercise or have a poor diet are at risk for developing Alzheimer\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before people start asking for abdominal scans to look for visceral fat, \u201cwe would need a much larger study,\u201d said Dr. Fanny Elahi, a neurologist and Alzheimer\u2019s researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. \u201cThis is a very, very small study.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[ad_1] People who have large amounts of fat stored around their organs as they age may be at higher risk of developing Alzheimer\u2019s disease, a new study suggests. This type of fat isn\u2019t necessarily reflected in a high body-mass index. Visceral fat, which can accumulate around the organs of even people at healthy BMIs, is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}