14 DAY TRIAL // According to a new paper published in the journal Cell Reports, middle-aged people who carry fairly high amounts of fat inside their abdominal cavity are about 3.6 times more likely to experience memory loss and suffer from dementia in their later years.
Researchers explain that this is because, according to recent evidence, a faulty fat metabolism affects memory and learning.
More precisely, it appears that the same protein that is in charge of controlling fat metabolism in the liver can also be found in the hippocampus, which happens to be the brain area in charge or controlling memory and learning.
The researchers theorize that people who carry high amounts of abdominal fat in their middle age have less of this protein and that, in time, this leads to their developing memory loss and dementia, EurekAlert reports.
The researchers wish to further investigate this link between fat and a higher risk for memory loss and dementia, and hope that they will be able to figure out a way to reduce people's risk of developing these conditions.
“We need to better understand how fat is connected to memory and learning so that we can develop effective approach to protect memory and learning,” said researcher Kalipada Pahan with the Rush University Medical Center.