TUESDAY, Feb. 27, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Higher pancreatic fat percentage is associated with lower cognition and brain volumes in middle-aged men at high risk for Alzheimer disease, according to a study published online Feb. 27 in Obesity.
Sapir Golan Shekhtman, from Tel Aviv University in Israel, and colleagues examined the associations of abdominal fat deposits with cognition and brain volumes and assessed whether this association is modified by sex. Hepatic, pancreatic, visceral (VAT), and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) were quantified in 204 healthy middle-aged Alzheimer dementia offspring (mean age, 59.44 years) who underwent magnetic resonance imaging; in addition, cognition and brain volumes were assessed.
The researchers found that higher hepatic fat percentage was associated with lower total grey matter volume (β = −0.17) in the whole sample. Higher pancreatic fat percentage was associated with lower global cognition, executive function, episodic memory, and inferior frontal gyrus volume, primarily in men (β = −0.27, −0.27, −0.28, and −0.28, respectively). Inverse associations were seen for VAT and SAT with middle frontal and superior frontal gyrus volumes in men and women.
“Our findings indicate stronger correlations compared to the relationships between body mass index and cognition, suggesting that abdominal fat depots, rather than body mass index, is a risk factor for lower cognitive functioning and higher dementia risk,” Shekhtman said in a statement.
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