Key Takeaways<\/p>\n
Obesity appears linked to quicker progression of Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/p>\n
Blood markers associated with Alzheimer\u2019s increase faster among people with obesity\u00a0<\/p>\n
These blood markers proved better able than brain scans in tracking the impact of obesity on Alzheimer\u2019s<\/p>\n
TUESDAY, Dec. 2, 2025 (HealthDay News) \u2014 Obesity might contribute to faster progression of Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>, a new study says.<\/p>\n Some blood markers associated with Alzheimer\u2019s increased nearly twice as fast among people with obesity compared to people who didn’t have obesity, according to results presented today at the Radiological Society of North America\u2019s annual meeting in Chicago.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve shown the relationship between obesity and Alzheimer\u2019s disease as measured by blood biomarker tests,\u201d senior researcher Dr. Cyrus Raji<\/a>, a principal investigator in the Neuroimaging Labs Research Center of the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.<\/p>\n For the study, researchers tracked five-year data on more than 400 participants in an ongoing brain imaging study of Alzheimer\u2019s patients.<\/p>\n Results showed that people with obesity had blood biomarkers for Alzheimer\u2019s that rose more rapidly, including:<\/p>\n Tau proteins, which form toxic clumps in the brains of Alzheimer\u2019s patients.<\/p>\n Protein fragments of neurofilament light chain (NfL), which are released from damaged or dying brain cells.<\/p>\n Glial fibrillary acidic protein, a protein produced by cells that heal and protect neurons in the brain and spinal cord.<\/p>\n Overall, tau levels increased up to 95% faster in people with obesity, results show. There also was a 24% faster rate of increase in NfL levels in participants with obesity versus those with Alzheimer’s without obesity.<\/p>\n Overall, blood tests proved better than PET medical imaging scans in capturing the impact of obesity on Alzheimer\u2019s, researchers concluded.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that we can track the predictive influence of obesity on rising blood biomarkers more sensitively than PET is what astonished me in this study,\u201d Raji said.<\/p>\n