Previous
Next
Archives By Category
- All
- The End of Psychology
- Home is Where The Head Is
- Neuroinflammation & Synaptic Dysfunction
- Inflammation Overload
- Molecular Detoxification
- The Memory Bank
- Neuro-Strange But True
- The Crazy World Of Cogniceuticals
- Neuromarketing Niche'ities
- Neuro-Hero
- Brain Myths Busted
- Brain Health For The Busiest
- Neurotoxins And You
- Neurobiology And Beyond
- Nutritional Neuroscience
- Brain Bites
Archives By Month
- November 2008
- October 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
Subscribe
The power to predict disease is - well - powerful. And nothing is more powerful in scientific circles than a carefully constructed, decades long, longitudinal study.
In case you haven’t noticed, approximately fifty percent of adult Americans have abdominal obesity. “Abdominal” or “visceral” obesity is defined as a waist circumference greater than 102 cm for men (40 in.) and 88 cm (35 in.) for women. Your “viscera” (internal organs) now double as a convenient “dumping-ground” for fat. No surprise then, that researchers in Northern California were easily able to recruit 6,583 “apple-shaped”, middle-aged, men and women. Thirty-six years later, a whopping sixteen percent (1053 people) had developed dementia.
Apparently abdominal obesity at 40, doubles or triples your risk for dementia in your 70’s.
To put it into perspective, every-other vibrant, active, middle-aged person with belly fat that you see today, will reach retirement and be rewarded with difficulty remembering their own name.
But what is it about belly fat that ultimately leaves our brains battered and bewildered?
When fat is progressively packed around internal organs it literally takes on a life of it’s own. Adipocyte (fat cell) signaling becomes so strong that it becomes the dominant “endocrine” or hormone secreting organ in the body. Over time, insulin levels rise. Soon after, persistently elevated blood-sugars increase production of a very dangerous by-product of glucose metabolism known as Advanced Glycosylated End-products (AGE’s).
When diabetic patients undergo HbA1c testing, whether they know it or not, they are having their advanced glycosylated end-products measured. Levels greater than 6.1 are considered abnormal and require treatment. AGE’s are found within the plaque and neurofibrillary tangles of specially stained brain tissue of Alzheimer’s patients and directly contribute to neuronal damage.
These same autopsy studies suggest that damage occurs long before the symptoms of dementia arise.
So here’s what to do if you’re 40 and find yourself in that other 50 percent category:
1. Determine your waist circumference by wrapping a tape measure midway between the top or your pelvis and the bottom of your ribs (between the bony parts in other words)
2. Ask your doctor to measure a fasting blood-sugar (fasting means nothing to eat - not even juice - after midnight of the night before)
3. Levels greater than 109 mg/dl require further evaluation with HbA1c testing
4. Exercise, exercise, exercise (all the crunches in the world will not remove this fat - neither will liposuction)
5. If you have a low HDL (good) cholesterol and elevated triglycerides, consider having Apo-E testing performed as well
I’m here to help - so feel free to leave a comment if you have a [fat] burning question!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Responses to “Your Waist Size NOW, Predicts Brain-Wasting Later: Here’s Why”
April 15th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I have two cases that I find very interesting.Two male clients of mine had interesting body composition results.Both are mid 50’s,healthy weight and body fat around 18%,but the visceral fat came out high on the scale.I understand that this scales that measures body fat,body water,visceral fat etc are not very accurate,but I am basically using it to the see the change with my clients.When I asked them about their cholesterol levels,they both admitted it was high and both of them had stopped taking their meds as well. Since I know know them both well,their eating habits are not really good,but their family history is quite interesting.One of the men’s father is now diagnosed with dementia(slim,fit with high cholesterol),and the Mother died early age of cancer.The other man’s father died early of diabetes,cancer and heart disease.Mother is still alive and very sharp at age 95.I understand the difference between blood cholesterol and visceral fat,but wonder if what I have seen with these two men are common.They are back on their meds after Doctor’s order, and the cholesterol levels are back to “normal”.Will that have any impact on the high level of the visceral fat that I measured 6-8 months ago?I am going to their composition again this week,to see if I can notice the change.In all my clients who had high visceral fat on the scale,they all admitted to having high cholesterol as well.Some big waisted and more obvious,others healthy weight and high body fat%.It bugs my mind ,it could just be that these scales are totally useless,but perhaps somewhat helpful to detect the amount of visceral fat when it is not obvious.I really appreciate your thoughts.Thanks again for great information.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Two questions: what was the study and where was it published? I can’t really believe anything you say when you don’t give a real reference.
Second, does the 35-inch limit apply to women whether they are 5 feet tall or 6′2″ ? That would hardly make sense.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:57 pm
thank you, Dr. Friesen. For the convenience of other readers I am posting the primary source article cited in the article for which you provided a link:
Whitmer RA, et al “Central obesity and increased risk of dementia more than three decades later” Neurology 2008; epub.
By no means do I mean disrespect but I am finding increasingly that mainstream media/internet articles are written by people who seemingly have read only the authors’ conclusions with no critical input of their own. As I’m sure you are aware, this leads to uncritical acceptance by the general public before true peer review has spread beyond the journal itself, which leads to a good deal of misinformation and confusion.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Thanks Amy!
My input includes more than twenty years of clinical experience and independent research. Most physicians are prepared to accept predigested interpretations of clinical studies - or worse yet - they fail to adopt any new treatment strategies preferring to wait until the “definitive” study is completed. A good deal of modern medicine includes treatment strategies that have never been substantiated by randomized controlled clinical trials but have been “grandfathered” into the practice of medicine. A middle of road exists - may it one day be found and let common sense prevail.
August 21st, 2008 at 3:46 am
Apparently abdominal obesity at 40, doubles or triples your risk for dementia in your 70’s.
That’s why there are so many old fat crazy people in the world??? — sorry stupid joke.
Gab’s last blog post..Men cellulite
September 9th, 2008 at 10:43 am
This is a very informative post about cancer.My niece is still suffering from side effects of a Brain Cancer she had after suffering from Bladder cancer.Thanks for such a useful post about cancer.
Judy’s last blog post..Tumor Brain Swelling
October 4th, 2008 at 8:11 am
I am interested to know whether you have observed any evidence of a direct connection between diabetes and alzheimers?
ie. is there an increased risk of alzheimers amongst ALL diabetics, or just those that are overweight?
Diabetic Roger’s last blog post..Ketone Testing Kits
April 15th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Thank you.
What about the “skinny fat” person?The one with low body weight ,but high body fat.Will the visceral fat be high here as well,and since they appear in a healthy weight until you measure their body weight,you think they are at low risk.Since I see a lot of that in young girls starving to stay thin today,curious about your thoughts.
Ann-Kristin