Belly fat linked to signs of Alzheimer’s 20 years before symptoms begin

(Sandee LaMotte/ CNN News) — As the size of a person’s belly grows, the memory center of their brain shrinks and beta amyloid and tau may appear — all of this occurring as early as a person’s 40s and 50s, well before any cognitive decline is apparent, according to new research.

Both beta amyloid plaques and tau tangles are early signs of the brain’s march toward a possible Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. Amyloid plaques typically appear first, with tau tangles arriving later as the disease progresses.

“The more amyloid or tau you have in the brain, the sicker the brain becomes,” said senior study author Dr. Cyrus Raji, associate professor of radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

“The way we can track a sicker looking brain is lower blood flow,” Raji said. “We also saw brain atrophy, or a wasting away of gray matter, in a part of the brain’s memory center called the hippocampus.” (…)