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05 Sep 2008
Obesity and Type 2 diabetes can contribute to mild neurodegeneration which has features similar to Alzheimer's disease, a new study has suggested.
Published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the research was carried out on animal models by researchers from Rhode Island Hospital in the USA.
High-fat diets were used to double average bodyweight in the models.
There was a marginally reduced average brain weight and a significantly reduced average brain weight to body weight ratio, which, the researcher state, provides evidence that obesity with Type 2 diabetes is sufficient to cause mild global atrophy in the brain.
Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of part of the body.
"In essence, the brain shrinks and several biochemical and molecular abnormalities found in patients with Alzheimer's Disease - including brain insulin resistance - develop with chronic obesity and Type 2 diabetes," comments lead author Suzanne de la Monte.
She adds that more research is needed to see if the combined effects of obesity and type 2 diabetes are reversible with weight loss.
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