overview: Researchers have found a correlation between obesity-related neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s disease pathology. Weight loss can slow age-related cognitive decline and reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, they say.
sauce: McGill University
A new study led by scientists at McGill University’s Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital finds a link between neurodegeneration in obese people and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients, helping them shed excess weight By slowing the decline in cognitive function due to aging, AD.
Previous studies have shown that obesity is associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related changes such as cerebrovascular damage and amyloid-β accumulation. However, so far, no studies have directly compared brain atrophy patterns in Alzheimer’s disease and obesity.
Using a sample of over 1,300 people, researchers compared patterns of gray matter atrophy in obesity and AD. They compared AD patients with healthy controls, compared obese and non-obese individuals, and created maps of gray matter atrophy for each group.
Scientists have found that obesity and Alzheimer’s disease affect gray cortical thinning in similar ways. For example, the thinning of the right temporoparietal cortex and the left prefrontal cortex was similar in both groups. Cortical thinning may be a sign of neurodegeneration. This suggests that obesity can cause the same type of neurodegeneration seen in AD patients.
Obesity is increasingly recognized as a multisystem disease affecting the respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular, and other systems.Posted in Alzheimer’s Journal Jan 31, 2022 The study also helps reveal neurological effects, showing that obesity may play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
“Our study strengthens previous literature pointing to obesity as a key factor in AD by showing that cortical thinning may be one of the potential risk mechanisms.” said Filip Morys, Ph.D. researcher in Neuro and the first author of the study. It emphasizes the importance of losing weight in obese and overweight people.”
Funding: This work was funded by a Foundation Scheme award for AD from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, computing resources from Calcul Quebec and Compute Canada, and a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Santé.
About This Obesity and Alzheimer’s Research News
author: Sean Hayward
sauce: McGill University
contact: Sean Hayward – McGill University
image: Image credit to Filip Morys
Original research: open access.
“Obesity-associated neurodegenerative patterns resemble Alzheimer’s disease in observational cohort studies” by Philip Morris et al. Alzheimer’s Journal
overview
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Obesity-associated neurodegenerative patterns resemble Alzheimer’s disease in observational cohort studies
Background:
Excess weight in adulthood leads to health complications such as diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. More recently, excess weight has also been associated with brain atrophy and cognitive decline. Reports have shown that obesity is associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related changes, such as cerebrovascular damage and amyloid-β accumulation. However, to date, no studies have directly compared brain atrophy patterns in Alzheimer’s disease and obesity.
Purpose:
Here, using over 1,300 samples from four groups: AD patients, healthy controls, non-obese healthy individuals, and lean individuals, we investigated the effects of brain atrophy and amyloid-β/tau protein accumulation in obesity and AD. I compared the patterns.
Method:
All groups were age- and sex-matched with AD patient groups to generate cortical thickness maps for AD and obesity. This was done by comparing AD patients with healthy controls and obese individuals with lean individuals. We then compared AD and obesity maps using correlation analysis and permutation-based tests that account for spatial autocorrelation. Similarly, we compared obesity brain maps with amyloid-β and tau protein maps from other studies.
result:
The obesity map was highly correlated with the AD map, but not with the amyloid-β/tau protein map. This effect was not explained by the presence of obesity in the AD group.
Conclusion:
Our study confirms that obesity-related gray matter atrophy mimics that of AD. may reduce risk.
