How to lower your Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s risk when you hit the gym

Maybe all that weightlifting hasn’t been in vein.

Obesity has long been linked to Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease because it can cause inflammation that harms the brain, among other reasons. Now, researchers say that focusing on belly and arm fat can lower your risk of developing these debilitating diseases.

“Targeted interventions to reduce [belly] and arm fat while promoting healthy muscle development may be more effective for protection against these diseases than general weight control,” said Dr. Huan Song of Sichuan University in China.

For the study, Song’s team recorded the waist and hip measurements, grip strength, bone density, fat and lean mass of nearly 413,000 older adults.

They were followed for about nine years. Some 8,200 participants were diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases — mostly Alzheimer’s disease, other forms of dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

Researchers found that those with beer bellies or spare tires were 13% more likely to develop these disorders than people with lean stomachs, while excess arm fat increased the risk by 18%.

The good news is that good muscle strength lowers the risk by 26%.

Aiming at these areas may be easier said than done — targeted fat loss has been called a myth.

Experts say it’s best to eat a healthy diet and burn calories in workouts to slim down all over and lower your risk of heart disease and stroke. Many of the study participants who developed dementia had these cardiovascular complications.

Song’s findings were published Wednesday in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. He acknowledges the study population primarily consisted of white people from the UK and Northern Ireland, so the results may not apply to everyone.

Around 5.8 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, which are characterized by memory loss and communication problems.

About a million Americans have Parkinson’s disease — patients may experience slow movement, tremors, stiffness and difficulty walking.

“It’s crucial that we identify ways to modify risk factors to develop some preventive tools,” Song said.

A separate study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, found that anxiety can increase the risk of dementia. 

Researchers say it’s important to treat anxiety early to lower the risk.