Evaluation Obesity increases the risk of Alzheimer's

The causes of Alzheimer's are not yet clear. Now, a new study suggests that there is a correlation between body weight and disease, as has been the case with previous studies. Thus overweight in middle years is a risk factor.

Exact Alzheimer's causes so far unclear
Only a few days ago, the World Alzheimer's Report was published, which shows that every 3.2 seconds another dementia diagnosis is made. For decades researchers have been puzzling what causes the disease. Although the exact causes are still unclear, scientists have identified a number of factors involved in the development and development of Alzheimer's disease. In addition to the old age, these include a genetic predisposition, diseases such as diabetes mellitus type 2, metabolic syndrome, oxidative stress or inflammation. Tobacco and alcohol also increase the risk of dementia, scientists reported a few months ago. And apparently also overweight, as US researchers have now found out.

Alzheimer's risk increases with body weight. Image: Piotr Wawrzyniuk - fotolia

Connection between weight and illness
According to a report by the AP news agency, US scientists from the State Institute for Age Research (NIA) in Washington have now found a new connection. The researchers found that too much weight in their mid-50s may later lead to an earlier onset of dementia. However, it is unclear whether the reverse is also true, so that in the case of a slim 50-year-old, a later Alzheimer's disease may be slowed down. To find out, further research was needed.

To prevent Alzheimer's disease through a healthier lifestyle
Obesity or obesity has increased the risk of dementia, but other scientists have also reported in recent years. Among others, Swedish researchers of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the research group "Acharna Singh-Manou" of the French research institute "Inserm". The current research results provide another reason to pay attention to an appropriate weight. "Maintaining a healthy body mass index in middle age is likely to have a long-lasting protective effect," said Madhav Thambisetty, who led the study published in the journal "Molecular Psychiatry." That a healthier lifestyle reduces the risk of Alzheimer's, had also reported last year, scientists from the Institute of Public Health at the University of Cambridge, UK. They attribute diabetes, hypertension, obesity, physical inactivity, depression, smoking, and lack of education to a significant impact on Alzheimer's disease.

Most people over 65 years affected
The majority of people with dementia have Alzheimer's disease. Since there is no cure so far, research also looks at how to at least delay the disease. Since people over the age of 65 are usually affected by Alzheimer's, the number of illnesses increases with the aging population. Thambisetty's team studied data from 1,400 people who had undergone regular cognitive testing for 14 years. 142 of the subjects later fell ill with Alzheimer's disease. The researchers found that the disease in these patients tended to occur earlier the more they were overweight at the age of 50 years.

However, it was not examined whether the weight of participants before and after the age of 50 was subject to strong fluctuations. Thus, it is unclear whether a weight loss after the age of 50 could reduce the risk. The trend of the result was confirmed by tomography photographs of some of the study participants. Thus, in people who were overweight at 50, found more of the typical Alzheimer protein deposits in the brain, even if they still showed no dementia symptoms. (Ad)