[PHNUTR-L] Accelerating weight loss may signal development of Alzheimer's disease

[Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD]

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Public release date: 11-Sep-2006
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-09/jaaj-awl090706.php

Contact: Michael Purdy
314-286-0122
JAMA and Archives Journals
Accelerating weight loss may signal development of Alzheimer's disease

The slow, steady weight loss associated with aging may speed up prior to 
the onset of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, according to an 
article in the September issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the 
JAMA/Archives journals.

Changes that occur with aging, such as reduced appetite and diminishing 
height, may induce weight loss in older adults, according to background 
information in the article. Alzheimer's disease has also been linked to 
age-related weight loss. Those in the late stages of the disease can 
lose up to 2 pounds per year; those who lose more weight are more likely 
to progress quickly and to be placed in a nursing home.

David K. Johnson, Ph.D., and colleagues at Washington University School 
of Medicine, St. Louis, studied weight loss before the development of 
dementia in 449 healthy adults (192 men, 257 women). At the beginning of 
the study and then yearly for an average of six years, the participants 
were assessed for dementia, weighed and asked questions about their 
medical history.

Over the course of the study, 125 participants developed dementia 
related to Alzheimer's disease. Those who did weighed about eight pounds 
less at the beginning of the study than those who did not develop 
Alzheimer's disease. In addition, "an acceleration in the rate of weight 
loss was a harbinger of the change from non-demented status to dementia 
of the Alzheimer's type," the authors write. "Participants lost about .6 
pounds per year while without dementia, but one year before the first 
symptomatic detection of dementia of the Alzheimer's type, the rate of 
weight loss in individuals doubled to 1.2 pounds per year." This 
association held when the researchers controlled for other factors that 
might influence weight loss, including age, sex, health status, 
hypertension (high blood pressure) and stroke history.

It is unclear exactly why weight loss is associated with dementia, the 
authors write. Some have hypothesized that individuals with dementia 
forget to eat, but this is unlikely given the finding that weight loss 
precedes the onset of memory problems and other dementia symptoms. 
Depression has also been suggested as a link, but although study 
participants with dementia were more depressed, depressed patients did 
not have any changes in body weight compared with those who were 
non-depressed. "There are reports of mild to moderate changes in taste 
and smell in healthy aging populations and in populations with dementia, 
and these factors need to be measured rigorously in future studies," the 
authors write. "Subtle gustatory changes could result in cumulative 
decreases in caloric intake or decreases in the quality of food consumed 
by individuals with dementia of the Alzheimer's type."

If these results are confirmed in larger studies, they conclude, "weight 
loss may be a preclinical indicator of Alzheimer's disease."

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(Arch Neurol. 2006;63:1312-1317.

Editor's Note: This study was supported by grants from the National 
Institute on Aging and by the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Charitable 
Trust. Please see the article for additional information, including 
other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial 
disclosures, funding and support, etc.

For more information, contact JAMA/Archives Media Relations at 
312/464-JAMA (5262) or e-mail mediarelations at jama-archives.org.
-- 
Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar at nutritionucanlivewith.com >
"Ask the Parkinson Dietitian"  http://www.parkinson.org/
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"Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy"
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