Researchers led by Mroj Alassaf at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the United States have discovered a link between obesity and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.
Using the common fruit fly, the research shows that a high-sugar diet—a hallmark of obesity—causes insulin resistance in the brain, which in turn reduces the ability to remove neuronal debris, thus increasing the risk of neurodegeneration.
Publishing November 7 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, the research will impact therapies designed to reduce the risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases.
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