Which means your competent? doctor needs to get you 100% recovered so you don't gain weight and can exercise properly for lower blood pressure and better blood sugar control.
Poor metabolic health tied to concerning new aging risk
Poor metabolic health may affect the brain through a biological pathway distinct from normal aging, a new study suggests.
The research, published in PLOS Biology, found that while aging naturally alters the brain over time, metabolic dysfunction follows its own distinct pathway, primarily affecting the brain’s blood supply rather than its structure.
Factors like obesity, high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar could all individually increase the risk of cognitive decline.
The findings suggested that even younger adults with poor metabolic health could experience brain changes more commonly associated with older age.
The Results
Researchers analyzed data from 597 adults between the ages of 36 and 100, comparing MRI measures of brain structure, connectivity and blood flow with common clinical markers.
The team identified two independent “axes” influencing brain health.
The first reflected chronological aging, linked to cortical thinning, loss of structural integrity and vascular dysfunction that slows blood flow through the brain.
The second reflected metabolic health—higher BMI, elevated blood pressure, increased glucose and insulin, lower HDL cholesterol and higher liver enzyme levels. All those markers are linked to reduced cerebral blood perfusion.
The Different Pathways
Unlike the aging pathway, which cannot be modified, the metabolic pathway is driven by health factors that are often treatable through lifestyle changes and medical management.
The researchers found the metabolic effects remained even after statistically removing the influence of age, indicating that metabolic dysfunction exerts its own independent effect on the brain.
Reduced blood flow emerged as the strongest brain feature associated with poor metabolic health across both study populations.( Does your doctor have ANY PROTOCOLS TO ENSURE YOUR CERBRAL BLOOD FLOW IS CORRECT? I thought not, so incompetence is standard for your doctor!
The researchers said impaired cerebral perfusion may represent one of the earliest and most sensitive indicators of metabolic damage to the brain, potentially preceding more obvious structural changes.
The Results
The study also linked poorer metabolic health to reduced cognitive performance.
Participants with greater evidence of metabolic dysfunction generally performed worse on tests measuring cognitive flexibility, the ability to switch between tasks or adapt to changing demands. The relationship was particularly strong among women.
The findings add to growing evidence that brain health is closely connected to cardiovascular and metabolic health.
Measures like BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose are routinely collected in clinical practice, which the researchers said could help identify people at higher risk long before symptoms of cognitive impairment appear.
Future studies incorporating broader panels of biological markers may uncover additional pathways linking the body and brain.
For now, the researchers concluded that maintaining a healthy weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar may help preserve cerebral blood flow and support long-term brain health.
Previous Studies
Newsweek has previously covered the associations between a big waist and cognitive decline.
In that study, the team found a higher body mass index (BMI) was linked to a thinner cortex, which has previously been tied to Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia.
Another study, also reported by Newsweek, examined the connections between belly fat and Alzheimer’s.
The findings suggest we should be focusing less on body weight and BMI and more on the distribution of fat and muscle around our bodies, and the percentage difference between the two.
Newsweek has reached out to the study authors for comment via email.
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