Is Thinness A Risk Factor For Alzheimer’s?

Thin may not always be in. A new study has found a link between a low BMI (body mass index, a ratio of weight to height) and early Alzheimer’s disease. Being overweight in middle age has been shown to be  a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, but the latest research has found that biological markers for Alzheimer’s were more common in thin people than in their heavier peers. The new study is published in  Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study examined 506 people to look for biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, which can be present years before the first symptoms begin. Researchers found that 85 percent of the people with mild cognitive impairment who had a BMI below 25, had signs of plaques in their brains that are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, compared to 48 percent of those with mild cognitive impairment who were overweight.

People with biological markers of Alzheimer’s — either in brain scans or protein levels in the cerebrospinal fluid — were more likely to have a lower BMI than those who did not show early evidence of the disease— leading researchers to believe that weight loss or a low BMI later in life is an early indication of mental decline.

– Charmaine Gooden