Midlife Obesity Increases Alzheimer’s Disease Risk

Obesity increases Alzheimer’s disease risk, according to a study in Molecular Psychiatry. Researchers studied 1,394 participants of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) and tracked their weight at age 50 and evidence of Alzheimer’s later on. The results indicate that with an increase in weight, onset of Alzheimer’s disease occurred 6.7 months earlier than when compared to those who were not obese. Autopsies and scans also showed higher body weights resulted in more Alzheimer’s-specific deposits in the brain. This study suggests that lifestyle changes earlier in life can influence the course of disease.