WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - According to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, researchers found a link between a specific type of body fat, known as visceral fat, and higher levels of abnormal proteins in the brain, causing Alzheimer's disease in the future.
Visceral fat is usually found around and between internal organs in the body, and is a cause for concern as it could lead to serious health issues.
'This crucial result was discovered because we investigated Alzheimer's disease pathology as early as midlife - in the 40s and 50s - when the disease pathology is at its earliest stages, and potential modifications like weight loss and reducing visceral fat are more effective as a means of preventing or delaying the onset of the disease,' lead author Dr. Mahsa Dolatshani, a post-doctoral research associate at the Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri, said.
The researchers studied lifestyle factors like obesity and metabolism, and causes of Alzheimer's in 80 cognitively normal middle-aged participants, of which over 57 percent were obese.
'We investigated the association of BMI, visceral fat, subcutaneous fat, liver fat fraction, thigh fat and muscle, as well as insulin resistance and HDL (good cholesterol), with amyloid and tau deposition in Alzheimer's disease,' said Dr. Dolatshahi.
The participants underwent MRI and PET scans, and had their cholesterol, glucose, and insulin levels measured. MRI scans of the abdomen and thighs helped researchers examine the visceral fats, whereas PET scans revealed the abnormalities in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.
'Our study showed that higher visceral fat was associated with higher PET levels of the two hallmark pathologic proteins of Alzheimer's disease - amyloid and tau,' Dolatshahi said.
'To our knowledge, 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 researchers advised that lifestyle changes targeting the reduction of visceral fat could hinder the development of Alzheimer's disease in the future.
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