Does Fat Storage Location Impact Brain Health?

Fast Summary

• A study explored how fat in different parts of the body impacts brain health, using data from 18,000 adults in the UK Biobank project.
• Above-average arm and torso fat was linked to thinning in the sensorimotor cortex, affecting movement; arm fat also correlated with reduced hippocampus volume, relevant for memory and Alzheimer’s disease.
• Excess leg fat was associated with decreased connectivity in the limbic network, which regulates emotions and reward processing.
• Visceral (internal organ) fat showed the strongest negative effect on brain health, linked to white matter deterioration due to inflammatory molecules it produces.
• Researchers emphasized that these findings do not establish causality but underline important associations between body fat distribution and brain function.
• The study’s limitation is its participant demographic (majorly white),making results potentially less generalizable across diverse populations.