2023-11-22 19:17:14
When it comes to dementia, helplessness quickly arises. How can you defend yourself once morest an illness without a cure? The great hope lies in early detection. A new US study has now identified a new risk factor that can be combated.
Dementia is a widespread disease
Scientists are discovering more and more risk factors that promote an outbreak. At the forefront: alcohol consumption, obesity, lack of exercise and smoking. Now US researchers have found another dementia factor: “hidden belly fat”.
The dangerous fat is currently known to cause inflammation in the abdominal cavity, as well as heart attacks and cancer.
► As the name suggests, hidden belly fat is not necessarily visible. It accumulates between organs and under the abdominal muscles. It hardly increases body weight, but is reflected in a larger waist circumference.
also read
Study results
The US study was conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers examined people between the ages of forty and sixty, among others.
► Their result: The inflammation caused by the fat was found not only in the abdomen, but also in the brain. The scientists also found increased amyloid deposits in the brains of those affected. And precisely where Alzheimer’s occurs!
Also interesting
Advertisement
Also interesting
Advertisement
Amyloids are clumped proteins that attach to, among other things, nerve cells and destroy them in the long term.
“We have known for some time that as the stomach size increases, the memory centers in the brain become smaller,” explained Alzheimer’s researcher Richard Isaacson to the TV channel CNN. But he had “never seen a connection as clear as that in this study before”. He himself was not involved in the study.
► At the same time, the team determined that the gray cells in the brain dwindled in people with too much abdominal fat. This is another biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease.
Thanks to these findings, scientists hope that they will soon be able to detect dementia decades before they begin. The good news too: hidden belly fat can be combated!
1700714919
#Dementia #Risk #Factor #Hidden #Belly #Fat #Brain #Inflammation #Life #Knowledge
