United States: A new study has found that inflammation from belly fat is linked to the initial phases of Alzheimer’s disease, which occur decades before symptoms begin.
“The study noted that individuals in their 40s and 50s with a greater amount of hidden belly fat had a higher amount of an abnormal protein called amyloid in a part of the brain that we know is one of the earliest places where Alzheimer’s occurs,” senior author Dr. Cyrus Raji, associate professor of radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, commented.
The presence of beta-amyloid plaques in the brain, along with tangles of a protein called tau, is one of the hallmark signals of Alzheimer’s. Amyloid plaques typically appear first, while tau tangles emerge in later stages as the disease advances.
“There’s a sex difference, as well, where the men had a higher relationship between their belly fat and amyloid than women. The reason that’s important is because men have more visceral fat than women,” Dr. Raji remarked.
The study further found a relationship between deep belly fat and brain atrophy, or the wasting away of grey matter, in a part of the brain’s memory centre called the hippocampus.
Alzheimer’s disease researcher Dr. Richard Isaacson, a preventive neurologist at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases of Florida, commented that “this study shows a brain imaging marker of neuroinflammation that I had not seen before. The brain imaging links the belly fat, or visceral fat, to brain dysfunction through an inflammatory cascade.”
Mr. Isaacson further stated that “we have hypothesised that inflammation in the fat cells leads to insulin resistance, and that’s fast-forwarded by visceral fat. Insulin resistance then causes inflammation that fast-forwards amyloid deposition, one of the key markers of Alzheimer’s disease. That’s why people with diabetes have twice the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.”
“Eat a healthy diet and exercise on a regular basis, which should include muscle strength training a few times a week, along with fat-burning, less intense cardio for 45 to 60 minutes, several times a week,” the researcher added.
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