In a study funded by the National Institute on Aging, Dr. David Bennett of Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center, and team, tracked 820 elderly Roman Catholic priests, nuns and brothers for up to 10 years.
The researchers found that healthy subjects whose weight dropped the most without obvious cause had a greater likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s.
Some scientists speculate that this weight loss may occur because the disease may injure regions of the brain related to food intake; while others attribute the phenomenon to the onset of depression and “loss of initiative” that may precede obvious Alzheimer’s symptoms.