New research is more closely linking obesity to dementia. Higher levels of leptin, a hormone that helps maintain normal body weight, is associated with better signal-transmitting brain white matter in middle-aged adults, according to a study by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio). "The findings support the known role of leptin variations in late-life dementia risk by relating its deficiency with changes in white matter structure, which is an early event in the process of cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia," said Claudia Satizabal, PhD, associate professor at the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Health San Antonio.
Satizabal is lead author of the study titled, "Leptin bioavailability and markers of brain atrophy and vascular injury in the middle age," published Aug. 12 in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association . Other authors also are with the Biggs Institute, as well as Tufts Medical Center in Boston; the Framingham Heart Study; Boston University School of Public Health; University of California-Davis; National and Kapodistrian University of Athens; and Columbia University.
Obesity and Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia, impacting the lives of millions of people worldwide, the study notes. Increasing evidence suggests that midlife obesity is an important contributor to the risk of developing the .