For a younger, healthier brain, researchers say to do this

For a younger, healthier brain, hit the weights.

The value of strength training for brain health is a major finding of a study presented at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting, showing that muscle mass can protect the brain and slow its aging. It also counters something that speeds brain aging up: having more hidden abdominal fat.

“Healthier bodies with more muscle mass and less hidden belly fat are more likely to have healthier, youthful brains,” senior study author Dr. Cyrus Raji, associate professor of radiology and neurology in the Department of Radiology at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, said in a news release. “Better brain health, in turn, lowers the risk for future brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s.”

Raji said it’s well known that chronological aging leads to loss of muscle mass and more hidden belly fat. But the study shows that those two things are involved in brain health — and that positive change is possible.

Study details

The researchers used full-body magnetic resonance imaging to look at fat, muscle and brain tissue. Besides quantifying the fat and muscle, they also used the brain’s structure to estimate its biological age in the 1,164 healthy adults participating in the study, which was conducted at four different sites.

Just over half of the study participants were women and the average age was barely over 55 years.

An artificial intelligence algorithm was created to measure total normalized muscle volume, hidden belly fat (visceral fat), fat under the skin (subcutaneous fat) and the predicted brain age based on imaging. It showed that those who had higher visceral-fat-to-muscle ratio appeared to have older brains. Subcutaneous fat was not significant to how old the brain appeared to be.

In April, a smaller study from Brazil had similar findings on brain protection from dementia, though it didn’t talk about fat. Forty-four adults with cognitive impairment were followed and those who did strength training for six months showed improvements in both memory and brain anatomy, while those who didn’t use weights showed decline.

The results of that study, by researchers at State University of Campinas, were published in the journal GeroScience.

Hit those weights

People have the power to change the trajectory in this particular case. Raji said working to build muscle and reduce hidden belly fat are “realistic and actionable” goals. He also noted that whole-body MRI and brain age estimates generated by artificial intelligence provide benchmarks that can be used to create programs that lower visceral fat while they also increase muscle.

Moreover, the research — like many studies that have come before it — offers strong evidence that physical health and brain health are related and directly impact each other.

“This research has validated widely held hypotheses about the association between body composition biomarkers and brain health and provides a foundation for those biomarkers to be included in future trials of various metabolic interventions and treatments,” Raji said in the written statement.

Can weight-loss drugs help?

The university release also talked about weight-loss drugs and how they can interact with the findings. That, it seems, is a bit of a mixed bag.

Per the release, “Commonly prescribed glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight loss medications, including Ozempic, are effective at reducing body fat but may also contribute to muscle loss. Dr. Raji suggested that the study’s findings could help guide the development of next-generation therapies. These future treatments may aim to reduce visceral fat more than subcutaneous fat while protecting muscle mass.”

The researchers said they hope their findings will help inform a new generation of weight-loss efforts that focus on hidden body fat and muscle volume, to the benefit of the brain’s health.