Potential Indicator in Mid-Life Linked to Increased Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease within Next Two Decades

‘Middle-aged’ spread or having a beer belly could indicate you’re more likely to get Alzheimer’s within 20 years, a study suggests.

Researchers in the United States discovered that individuals with higher levels of visceral fat, which is the fat surrounding essential organs such as the heart, stomach, and liver, exhibited an increased presence of abnormal proteins in the brain, which are characteristic indicators of Alzheimer’s disease.

The disease is the leading cause of dementia in the US, where it affects almost seven million patients, and in the UK where it is suffered by nearly one million people. The brain disorder robs sufferers of their memories and independence. 

But the researchers said their discovery could be cause for hope.

They said linking Alzheimer’s risk to visceral fat levels in people 40s and 50 meant interventions like diet and exercise to slim it down could have a huge impact on dementia decades down the line.

Visceral fat, sometimes responsible for the ‘skinny fat’ look, differs from other types of fat as it wraps around the organs and, in some, makes little difference to their body mass index (BMI). 

This means that even people who have a healthy BMI can be at risk. However, in most cases, particularly in men, the fat presents as a beer belly, settled around the middle.

In the study, presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, researchers looked at health data from 80 people in their 40s and 50s with normal cognitive abilities, meaning they had no current signs of dementia. 

Of the study participants, just over half were obese and all underwent scans of their body to track visceral fat and scans of their brain to detect amyloid proteins linked to Alzheimer’s.

Results revealed that higher levels of visceral fat were linked to increased amyloid proteins.

While obesity has been established as an increasing risk of dementia before, the researchers calculated that visceral fat contributed to 77 per cent of obesity-related amyloid accumulation in the brain. 

Dr Mahsa Dolatshahi a research associate at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri and author of the paper said they study the first to establish this link. 

‘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,’ she said.

‘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,’ she said. 

Almost one million Brits are thought to be living with dementia, about one in 14 people over the age of 65. However, the figure is predicted to rise to nearly 1.5million in the coming decades as the population continues to age.

About 7million Americans have dementia which is expected to soar past 12million by 2040.

The disorder is estimated to cost the country £43billion per year, a bill that is expected to double by 2040.

Former Deputy Prime Minister and Labour MP and peer John Prescott died after a battle with Alzheimer’s late last month.

Experts say a good way to measure visceral fat is you have a waist circumference of 80cm or more for women, and 94cm more for men.