As you age, you gradually lose muscle mass and gain visceral body fat, a type of fat deep inside your body that surrounds your heart, kidneys and other organs. Now, scientists say the ratio of visceral fat to muscle can uncover clues about your brain health.
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\nPeople with higher muscle mass and a lower visceral fat-to-muscle ratio tend to have younger brains, according to research being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that the age of a person, in terms of their appearance, might not match with their chronological age,\u201d said senior study author Dr. Cyrus Raji. \u201cTurns out, the age of their organs might not match their chronological age either.\u201d One reason the findings are so important is because chronological age \u2014 and therefore an aging brain \u2014 is \u201cby far\u201d the top risk factor for developing Alzheimer\u2019s disease and other forms of dementia, said Raji, an associate professor of radiology and neurology at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.<\/p>\n
Previous research, including Raji\u2019s own, has studied the relationship between visceral fat and health outcomes such as brain volume loss, cognitive impairment and structural changes in the brain. The study involved 1,164 healthy people whose average chronological age was 55.17. About 52% were women and 39% were nonwhite. All underwent a whole-body MRI that looked at brain, fat and muscle tissue.<\/p>\n
To determine participants\u2019 brain age, Raji and his colleagues used an algorithm that had been trained on the MRI scans of 5,500 healthy adults ages 18 to 89. The average brain age of study participants was 56.04 \u2014 older than their average chronological age. Researchers called this difference the \u201cbrain age gap.\u201d The average brain age gap was 0.69 years, meaning participants\u2019 brains looked slightly older than they should. However, this metric was not statistically significant.<\/p>\n
Just as higher muscle mass and a lower visceral fat-to-muscle ratio corresponded to a younger brain age, lower muscle mass and a higher visceral fat-to-muscle ratio corresponded to an older brain age. This link between body fat and brain age only held true for visceral fat, which is also known as hidden fat, active fat or deep belly fat. Subcutaneous fat, the layer of fat just below the skin\u2019s surface, wasn\u2019t associated with brain age, the study found.<\/p>\n
From a clinical perspective, the study results are on par with what Dr. Zhenqi Liu, the James M. Moss professor of diabetes at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, would expect. \u201cWhen people are very young and healthy, they tend to have more muscle mass and they will have [a] younger brain age,\u201d said Liu, who wasn\u2019t involved in the research.<\/p>\n
The limitations of body mass index, or BMI, as a measure of health are also on display in this research, Liu said. BMI is a standardized, nearly 200-year-old body fat metric calculated using your height and weight. But it\u2019s fallen out of favor in recent years, namely because it doesn\u2019t take into account how your fat \u2014 neither visceral nor subcutaneous \u2014 is distributed throughout your body.<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s been ages since you\u2019ve touched a dumbbell or gone for a long walk, fear not, said Siddhartha Angadi, a colleague of Liu\u2019s and an associate professor of kinesiology at UVA\u2019s School of Education and Human Development. \u201cAnyone can exercise \u2014 regardless of their age,\u201d said Angadi, who wasn\u2019t involved in the research. \u201cThere\u2019s excellent data across the lifespan, across the health span, across multiple diseases showing that exercise is incredibly safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angadi recommends following the American College of Sports Medicine’s physical activity guidelines. At least twice a week, healthy adults 65 and younger are encouraged to do muscle-strengthening activities that work all major muscle groups. \u201cDo 10 to 15 different exercises,\u201d Angadi said. \u201cYou want to do one to three sets; in each set, you want to have eight to 12 reps. Use machines if you\u2019re not familiar with resistance training, which is a fancy way of saying weightlifting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glenn Gaesser, a professor of exercise physiology at the Arizona State University College of Health Solutions, said baby steps can help build muscle and burn visceral fat. \u201cA lot of people think that it takes a lot to produce some sort of health benefit from exercise, and that is not necessarily true,\u201d said Gaesser, who wasn\u2019t part of the study. \u201cThe biggest return on investment is with the initial few minutes of exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n
In conclusion, the study highlights the importance of maintaining a healthy balance between muscle mass and visceral fat to support brain health. By engaging in regular exercise, such as strength training and aerobic activities, individuals can help build muscle and burn visceral fat, potentially reducing their risk of cognitive decline and dementia.<\/p>\n
A: The study found that individuals with higher muscle mass and a lower visceral fat-to-muscle ratio tend to have younger brains.<\/p>\n
A: Brain age can be determined using an algorithm that has been trained on MRI scans of healthy adults.<\/p>\n
A: BMI does not take into account the distribution of fat throughout the body and can be misleading as a measure of health.<\/p>\n
A: Strength training and aerobic activities, such as weightlifting and walking, can help build muscle and burn visceral fat.<\/p>\n
A: No, it’s never too late to start exercising and improving your brain health. Even small amounts of exercise can have significant benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to Brain Age As you age, you gradually lose muscle mass and gain visceral body fat, a type of fat deep inside your body that surrounds your heart, kidneys and other organs. Now, scientists say the ratio of visceral fat to muscle can uncover clues about your brain health. People with higher muscle mass […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":22799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-wellness"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/media.nbcmiami.com\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1340129187.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&fit=6960,4640&w=1920&resize=1920,1280&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22797"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22800,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22797\/revisions\/22800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}