Tuesday 02/December/2025 – 03:18 PM
A recent study showed that obesity may accelerate the development of disease Alzheimer’s In people who have early signs of the disease, which highlights the importance of maintaining a healthy weight and performing blood tests to monitor vital signs of the disease, according to what was published by the British newspaper Daily Mail.
New link between obesity and Alzheimer’s disease
According to research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), participants with obesity showed a 29 to 95 percent increase in blood levels of pTau217, a protein linked to Alzheimer’s diagnosis, compared to individuals of normal weight, and had significantly higher neurotrophin fragments and amyloid cells, indicating faster progression of the disease.
The study, which included 407 participants over 5 years, used blood tests along with positron emission tomography (PET) to monitor amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain, and the researchers confirmed that the blood tests were more sensitive in showing the effect of obesity on the development of the disease.
Dr. Cyrus Raji from the University of Washington said: This is the first time that we have been able to monitor the relationship between obesity and Alzheimer’s through biomarkers in the blood, which opens the door to studying the effect of weight-loss medications on the disease in the future.
Weight loss vaccine
Among the promising treatments stands out liraglutide Saxenda, a weight-loss vaccine already used in the NHS, which has shown the potential to slow cognitive decline and brain cell loss by up to 50% in Alzheimer’s patients, although results from other trials of the same drug have shown the need for more research.
It is estimated that about 944,000 people in the United Kingdom and 7 million in the United States live with dementia. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of this condition, in which problems with memory, thinking and language worsen over time. Obesity remains a modifiable risk factor that can be controlled to reduce the progression of the disease.
Researchers hope these findings will expand the use of routine blood tests to monitor Alzheimer’s progression and individualize treatment plans, with an emphasis on weight management as a way to reduce risk.
