New Delhi, Jan 28: A new study suggests obesity’s impact on brain function depends not only on how much fat the body carries, but also on where it is stored, linking pancreatic fat and ‘skinny fat’ body types to accelerated brain aging, cognitive decline, and higher neurological disease risk.
While previous studies have linked obesity — particularly those with a higher ratio of visceral fat — with a decline in brain or cognitive health, the new study highlights the specific risks tied to different fat storage patterns, said study co-author Kai Liu, an associate professor at The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University in China.
“Our work leveraged MRI’s ability to quantify fat in various body compartments, especially internal organs, to create a classification system that’s data-driven instead of subjective. The data-driven classification unexpectedly discovered two previously undefined fat distribution types that deserve greater attention,” Liu said.
Data of nearly 26,000 individuals from the UK Biobank were analysed. Medical records had medical imaging measurements, along with the participants’ physical measurements, demographics, disease biomarkers, medical history and lifestyle habits.
Brain health outcomes were compared with patterns in how body fat was distributed.
The analysis “revealed distinct patterns of body fat distribution, where pancreatic-predominant and skinny-fat patterns, in particular, were associated with adverse neurologic outcomes.” The body fat profiles were mostly associated with extensive gray matter shrinking, an accelerated brain aging, cognitive decline and an increased risk of neurological disease, with risks present in both men and women, the researchers said.
Individuals with “pancreatic-predominant” body fat distribution patterns showed a ‘proton density fat fraction’ — an MRI marker providing a precise estimation of fat concentration in a tissue — of around 30 per cent in the pancreas.
“This level is about two to three times higher than that of other fat distribution categories, and it can be up to six times higher than that of lean individuals with low overall fat. Additionally, this group tends to have a higher BMI and overall body fat load,” Liu said.
However, those with a pancreatic-predominant profile were noted to not have a significantly pronounced liver fat compared to those with other profiles — high pancreatic fat accompanied by relatively low liver fat emerges as a distinct, clinically overlooked phenotype, Liu said.
“In our daily radiology practice, we often diagnose ‘fatty liver’. But from the perspectives of brain structure, cognitive impairment and neurological disease risk, increased pancreatic fat should be recognised as a potentially higher-risk imaging phenotype than fatty liver,” Liu said.
People with ‘skinny fat’ profiles showed the highest fat burden in nearly all areas except the liver and pancreas — unlike a balanced ‘high obesity’ profile, skinny fat tends to be more concentrated in the abdomen, the researchers found.
“Most notably, this type does not fit the traditional image of a very obese person, as its actual average BMI ranks only fourth among all categories. The increase is perhaps more in fat proportion,” Liu said.
“Therefore, if one feature best summarizes this profile, I think, it would be an elevated weight-to-muscle ratio, especially in male individuals,” Liu said. (PTI)
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