Obesity ‘can trigger Alzheimer’s disease’

Obesity can trigger symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study.

Both obesity and Alzheimer’s were found to thin grey matter in the same ways – in the right temporo-parietal cortex and left prefrontal cortex.

As a result, scientists claim losing weight could slow cognitive decline and lower the risk of dementia.

Researchers from Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, McGill University, Quebec, suggested obesity and Alzheimer’s (AD) may cause same type of neurodegeneration.

Obesity was previously linked with Alzheimer’s disease, but this is the first study to make a direct comparison between brain atrophy patterns in Alzheimer’s and obesity.

Like Alzheimer’s, obesity is associated with cerebrovascular damage affecting blood flow in the brain, and accumulation of amyloid-β, which prompts the degeneration of the brain.

Obesity has already been described as a multisystem disease affecting the lungs, stomach, bowel and heart and scientists claim this research reveals more about its impact on the brain.

Writing in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Filip Morys, a PhD researcher at The Neuro and the study’s first author, said: “Our study strengthens previous literature pointing to obesity as a significant factor in AD by showing that cortical thinning might be one of the potential risk mechanisms.

“Our results highlight the importance of decreasing weight in obese and overweight individuals in mid-life, to decrease the subsequent risk of neurodegeneration and dementia.”

The scientists created a map of grey matter atrophy for Alzheimer’s sufferers, a healthy control group, those who were obese, and those who were not.

Grey matter atrophy was sampled in over 1,300 people and compared with Alzheimer’s sufferers and those who are obese.