{"id":208656,"date":"2024-02-28T10:18:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T10:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/28\/belly-fat-tied-to-brain-health-in-middle-aged-adults-with-family-history-of-alzheimers-rutgers-health-study-finds\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:21:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:21:30","slug":"belly-fat-tied-to-brain-health-in-middle-aged-adults-with-family-history-of-alzheimers-rutgers-health-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/28\/belly-fat-tied-to-brain-health-in-middle-aged-adults-with-family-history-of-alzheimers-rutgers-health-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Belly fat tied to brain health in middle-aged adults with family history of Alzheimer\u2019s, Rutgers Health study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Abdominal fat is associated with brain health in middle-aged adults with a family history of Alzheimer\u2019s disease, according to a new study. However, this link is more conspicuous in men.<\/p>\n

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A team of researchers in the U.S. and Israel used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure the amounts of fat in subjects\u2019 liver, abdomen, and pancreas. Higher pancreatic fat correlated to lower cognition and smaller volumes of brain regions linked to Alzheimer\u2019s\u2014primarily in men. These findings were published this week in the journal Obesity<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Studying people at high risk of Alzheimer\u2019s in middle age is important because the underlying signs of the disease, the most common form of dementia<\/a>, begin developing 20 to 30 years before symptoms appear, says Michal Schnaider Beeri, Ph.D.<\/a>, director of the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer\u2019s Research Center at the Rutgers Brain Health Institute<\/a>, who led the study.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to know who are those who are in a bad trajectory, in order to do everything possible to prevent it,\u201d she tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cAnd, alternatively, who are those that despite their very high risk [are] not in a bad trajectory, and then to learn from their resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous research<\/a> has shown a link between obesity and brain health\u2014lower cognitive functioning and higher dementia risk\u2014traditionally using body mass index (BMI)<\/a>. But Beeri\u2019s team notes that BMI, a calculation of body fat based on your height and weight, doesn\u2019t account for body fat distribution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we are the first to show that fat on<\/em> the pancreas is related to poorer cognitive function and a smaller cortical brain volume in people who are in midlife,\u201d Beeri says. \u201cThe associations that we found between fat and cognition and brain volumes were not found for BMI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beeri isn\u2019t surprised the pancreas is at the center of the study results, largely because of its relationship to type 2 diabetes<\/a>. The disease, which results when the pancreas doesn\u2019t make enough of the glucose-regulating hormone insulin and\/or your body doesn\u2019t use it properly, is a well-documented risk factor for dementia.<\/p>\n

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