Fat!

March 1st, 2025| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

You grow old, you decline. It’s a fact of life. “Senior moments” increase in frequency, and serious memory issues and thinking problems abound.

Well, there might now be an unexpected solution. OK, maybe not a solution, but at least a better understanding of how we might conceive of trying to attempt to endeavor to struggle to slow it all down.

The unexpected “solution”? Belly fat.

Thus saith “Adipose Chemokine Ligand CX3CL1 Contributes to Maintaining the Hippocampal BDNF Level, and the Effect is Attenuated in Advanced Age,” published in GeroScience by researchers from Toho University, Tokyo, and from other Japanese institutions.

CX3CL1 is a protein made by belly fat (“visceral fat,” really, the stuff that surrounds our internal organs), and this protein promotes brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. And BDNF is, for want of a better analogy, fertilizer for brains, that helps brain cells grow, survive, and form new connections. So the more BDNF you have, the better your brain functions. But, unfortunately, as we age, our BDNF levels drop, and that’s when the troubles begin. The good news is that an extra dose of CX3CL1, aka, “manure” for the brain fertilizer, causes BDNF levels to recover.

At least it does … in mice. Still …

The animals were studied at different ages—5, 10, and 18 months old (approximating young adult, middle-aged, and elderly humans). The 5- and 10-month-old mice had similar levels of BDNF in their hippocampus, but by 18 months, these levels had dropped by about a third, typical of aging animals. Similarly, CX3CL1 production in visceral fat remained stable in younger mice but declined significantly in older animals, supporting a link between the two proteins.

So, younger rodents have considerable belly fat and produce plentiful CX3CL1, and thus enough BDNF for the brain. But as they become older, their belly fat drops, and so do CX3CL1 levels, and correspondingly, BDNF levels as well.

These findings flip conventional wisdom about belly fat on its head. While excess visceral fat is still harmful and linked to many health problems, this research suggests that healthy amounts of visceral fat early on serve an important purpose by producing signaling molecules that support brain health. The connection between belly fat and brain health highlights how intertwined our body systems really are. Our brains don’t operate in isolation but depend on signals from throughout the body—including, surprisingly, our fat tissue.”

The next time you find you are loosening that belt more and more, or increasing the waist size of your clothing, remember: there’s a conversation happening between your belly and your brain that science is just beginning to eavesdrop on.

All that to say, a belly may be good for the brain!

But don’t get too excited and start engorging on those calories for the sake of your brain. Too much of belly fat can create more problems than it can solve.

For afflicted and needy [am] I,
and my heart has been wounded inside me.
Like a shadow as it lengthens, I am gone;
I am shaken off like a locust.
My knees have weakened from fasting,
and my flesh has become lean, without fatness.
Psalm 109:22–24

No, that ain’t good. Instead, cling on to God …

So I bless You for [all] my life;
in Your name I lift up my hands.
As with fat and richness [of food] my soul is satisfied,
and with lips joyfully shouting my mouth offers praise. …
For You have been a help to me,
and in the shadow of Your wings I shout with joy.
My soul cleaves unto You;
Your right hand holds me.
Psalm 64:4–5, 7–8

SOURCE: Gero Science; Study Finds