New Study Shows That Body Composition Affects Your Risk Of Alzheimer's & Parkinson's Disease

Brain aging is highly influenced by lifestyle. Certain foods (like processed meats), low vitamin D levels, and even moderate alcohol consumption can increase your risk of Alzheimer's disease. More and more research is coming out about how body composition (levels of fat vs. lean mass) impacts cognitive diseases. 

So in this study, researchers followed 412,690 people from the UK Biobank cohort (mainly white individuals with an average age of 56) without preexisting cognitive conditions for nine years. 

At the start of the study, researchers collected measurements including waist and hip circumferences, grip strength, bone density, and lean and fat mass. And the goal was to see how many people developed dementia (mainly Alzheimer's disease) or Parkinson''s after nine years. 

What's interesting is that people with higher muscle strength were 26% less likely to develop these cognitive diseases than those with poor strength. 

Now, researchers of this study cited that body composition and strength are tied to brain health through modifying risk factors for cardiovascular disease (which aligns with past research). 

They specifically note that carrying excess weight in the abdomen interferes with insulin signaling, leaving blood sugar levels higher than they should be. This in turn can signal inflammation, which over time can damage blood vessels. 

Now, you can't always control where your body stores fat (there is a genetic component here). Some people (women especially) are more likely to store it in their hips or lower body3 until they reach menopause. And postmenopausal women and men are more likely to store fat in their abdomens.