Fat Can Affect the Brain Depending on Where It Is Located

A cartoon middle-aged man with a prominent belly, looking worried, with thought bubbles showing a brain and various health symbols. The style is colorful, engaging, and educational, highlighting the theme of abdominal fat and brain health.

Carrying extra weight in the belly isn't just a matter of appearance - it may also be a sign of brain health, especially for men.

A study involving 204 middle-aged people with a family history of Alzheimer's found that those with more liver fat had less brain gray matter overall (Shekhtman SG, et.al., 2024).

Men with higher levels of fat around the pancreas showed worse memory, decision-making, and smaller volumes in parts of the brain critical for these functions. Interestingly, this pattern wasn't seen in women.

Higher visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue was associated with lower middle frontal and superior frontal gyrus volumes in males and females.

This suggests a unique connection between belly fat, brain health, and the risk of dementia, which seems to affect men differently than women.

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Reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38410053/

Golan Shekhtman S, Boccara E, Ravona-Springer R, Inbar Y, Zelicha H, Livny A, Bendlin BB, Lesman-Segev O, Yore I, Heymann A, Sano M, Mardor Y, Azuri J, Schnaider Beeri M. Abdominal fat depots are related to lower cognitive functioning and brain volumes in middle-aged males at high Alzheimer's risk. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2024 Feb 27.