The degenerative illness has already been linked to an increased risk of obesity.
Lean muscular mass may lower your risk of Alzheimer’s disease development, according to studies.
A 12-percent decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and better cognitive function were discovered, according to the study, among those with higher lean muscle mass over the course of their lives.
According to the researchers, the results show that lean mass may operate as a barrier against Alzheimer’s.
It is unclear whether decreased levels of lean muscle occur before or after a diagnosis of the disease, despite the fact that this has also been related to a higher risk of the condition.
The researchers collected information on the connection between lean muscle and Alzheimer’s using a genetic prediction method called Mendelian randomisation in an effort to learn more.
To validate the results, they used data from 450,243 participants in the UK Biobank project.
They collected two separate samples: one with 7,329 Alzheimer’s patients and 252,879 controls; and one with 21,982 Alzheimer’s patients and 41,944 controls.
Taking into account age, sex, and genetic background, the researchers calculated the amount of lean muscle and fat tissue in the arms and legs.
A slight but statistically significant decrease in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease was generally linked to increased lean muscle mass.
Using two distinct measurements of lean muscle mass—trunk and entire body—this result was confirmed in the second sample.
Although lean mass was linked to improved cognitive function, researchers suggest that this relationship does not fully account for lean mass’s protective impact against Alzheimer’s disease risk.
Additionally, body fat was not linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease but was linked to worse performance on cognitive tasks.
The study’s authors, who published their findings in the journal BMJ Medicine, stated that the studies “provide new evidence supporting a cause-and-effect relation between lean mass and risk of Alzheimer’s disease.”
They said that the results “refute a substantial effect of fat mass on the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and highlight the importance of distinguishing between lean mass and fat mass when investigating the effect of adiposity measures on health outcomes.”
The authors do, however, issue the following warning: “Our findings need to be reproduced with independent lines of supplementary evidence before guiding public health or clinical practise.
Additionally, more research is required to establish the thresholds for Alzheimer’s disease pathology and age, beyond which alterations to lean mass may no longer lower the risk.
