New Study Shows That Holding Onto Visceral Fat In Midlife May Predict Alzheimer's Risk

Alzheimer’s disease typically is a condition that occurs later in life. For example, about 6.9 million Americans over the age of 65 are currently living with Alzheimer’s. But this isn’t a disease that appears overnight once you hit your 60s, 70s, or 80s.

Research indicates that brain changes (like the formation of amyloid plaques or tau tangles) start 10+ years before symptoms including memory problems appear. 

Researchers recently presented findings of a new study at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America on how certain metabolic markers—think body fat type and distribution—impact Alzheimer’s risk in mid-life. They identified that hidden, visceral fat could be an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease. 

It’s been known that Alzheimer’s disease is linked to metabolic concerns including high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and excess body fat—and it’s even referred to as type 3 diabetes. 

For this study, researchers focused on the link between excess body fat, distribution of that fat, blood sugar, and blood lipids on Alzheimer's disease pathology, including amyloid and tau protein buildup in the brain. 

Results showed that folds with higher amounts of visceral body fat—the fat stored around the organs deep inside your abdomen—were connected to increased amyloid deposits in the brain. This visceral fat also accounted for 77% of the effect of excess fat (indicated via BMI in this study) on amyloid buildup. 

The presence of subcutaneous fat—the type found directly below the skin’s surface) was not. 

"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 study author Mahsa Dolatshahi, M.D., M.P.H., post-doctoral research associate at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri said in the press release. 

This study links the presence of visceral body fat to the beginning of amyloid deposits in the brains of otherwise cognitively healthy adults in mid-life.