Does fat content within muscle predict risk of cognitive decline?

JUNE 12, 2023 - Investigators assessed muscle fat in 1,634 adults 69–79 years of age at years 1 and 6 and evaluated their cognitive function at years 1, 3, 5, 8, and 10. Increases in muscle adiposity from year 1 to year 6 were associated with faster and more cognitive decline over time. The findings were similar for Black and white men and women.

“Our data suggest that muscle adiposity plays a unique role in cognitive decline, distinct from that of other types of fat or other muscle characteristics,” said corresponding author Caterina Rosano, MD, MPH, of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health. “If that is the case, then the next step is to understand how muscle fat and the brain ‘talk’ to each other, and whether reducing muscle adiposity can also reduce dementia risk.”

URL upon publication: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jgs.18419

Full citation: “Increase in skeletal muscular adiposity and cognitive decline in a biracial cohort of older men and women.” Caterina Rosano, Anne Newman, Adam Santanasto, Xiaonan Zhu, Bret Goodpaster, Iva Miljkovic. J Am Geriatr Soc; Published Online: 07 June 2023 (DOI: 10.1111/jgs.18419).

Copyright © 2019 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., reproduced with permission.