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Discovered: A New Connection Between Excess Belly Fat And Dementia
A protein used by the liver to metabolize belly fat is also used by the brain's memory center. More belly fat increases the chances that the liver will steal some protein from the brain in order to do its job.
What's the Latest Development?
A study newly published in Cell Reports reveals that the link between excess belly fat and the onset of dementia may lie in a special protein called PPARalpha that's used by both the liver and the brain's memory center, or hippocampus. The liver needs PPARalpha to metabolize belly fat, and the more fat there is, the more protein it needs, to the point where it will begin robbing it from other parts of the body, including the hippocampus. Starved of the protein, the hippocampus can't do its job as well, which leads to difficulties in both learning and memory.
What's the Big Idea?
Other studies have attempted to connect obesity to dementia, but this is the first one to pinpoint the role of PPARalpha in hippocampus function. The study's authors, researchers at Rush University Medical Center, tested mice with varying levels of the protein in their livers and brains. They found that when they injected more of the protein into the brains of mice with depleted levels, their memory and learning skills improved. Team leader Kalipada Pahan says this discovery could lead to new treatment possibilities for Alzheimer's and similar memory disorders.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com
Imagine learning empathy at school. Global Oneness Project does just that.
To create wiser adults, add empathy to the school curriculum.
A still from the film "We Became Fragments" by Luisa Conlon , Lacy Roberts and Hanna Miller, part of the Global Oneness Project library.
- Stories are at the heart of learning, writes Cleary Vaughan-Lee, Executive Director for the Global Oneness Project. They have always challenged us to think beyond ourselves, expanding our experience and revealing deep truths.
- Vaughan-Lee explains 6 ways that storytelling can foster empathy and deliver powerful learning experiences.
- Global Oneness Project is a free library of stories—containing short documentaries, photo essays, and essays—that each contain a companion lesson plan and learning activities for students so they can expand their experience of the world.
What the world will look like in the year 250,002,018
This is what the world will look like, 250 million years from now
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Sooner or later we all face death. Will a sense of meaning help us?
As a doctor, I am reminded every day of the fragility of the human body, how closely mortality lurks just around the corner.
'Despite all our medical advances,' my friend Jason used to quip, 'the mortality rate has remained constant – one per person.'
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Tyson dives into the search for alien life, dark matter, and the physics of football.
- Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson joins us to talk about one of our favorite subjects: space.
- In the three-chaptered video, Tyson speaks about the search for alien life inside and outside of the Goldilocks Zone, why the term "dark matter" should really be called "dark gravity," and how the rotation of the Earth may have been the deciding factor in a football game.
- These fascinating space facts, as well as others shared in Tyson's books, make it easier for everyone to grasp complex ideas that are literally out of this world.
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SpaceX's momentous Crew Dragon launch is a sign of things to come for the space industry, and humanity's future.
