Researchers have linked a specific type of body fat to the abnormal proteins in the brain that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease up to 20 years before the earliest symptoms of dementia appear, according to a study being presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
The researchers emphasize that lifestyle modifications targeted at reducing this fat could influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
“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,” said 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.
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