Visceral Fat Increases Brain Inflammation and Amyloid Aggregation

The correlation between being overweight and risk of developing Alzheimer's disease is nowhere near as strong as, say, between being overweight and risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Given the evidence for chronic inflammation to be important in the development of Alzheimer's disease, and the many ways in which excess visceral fat tissue promotes chronic inflammation, it is somewhat puzzling that Alzheimer's isn't more of a lifestyle disease, similar to the way in which type 2 diabetes derives from lifestyle choices. That said, there is a contribution to Alzheimer's risk, and carrying excess weight is unwise, for this and many other reasons. To try and identify Alzheimer's risks earlier, researchers assessed the association between brain MRI volumes, as well as amyloid and tau uptake on positron emission tomography (PET) scans, with body mass index (BMI), obesity, insulin resistance, and abdominal adipose (fatty) tissue in a cognitively normal midlife population. Amyloid and tau are proteins thought to interfere with the communication between brain cells. "Even though there have been other studies linking BMI with brain atrophy or even a higher dementia risk, no prior study has linked a specific type of fat to the actual Alzheimer's disease protein in cognitively normal people. Similar studies have not investigated the differential role of visceral and subcutaneous fat, especially in terms of Alzheimer's amyloid pathology, as early as midlife." For this cross...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs