Obesity-Induced Inflammation and the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease: A Systematic Review

Alzheimer’s Disease(AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder marked by the accumulation of amyloid plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. It is known to be caused by a variety of risk factors, both modifiable and non-modifiable. This systematic review investigates obesity as a modifiable risk factor for AD, focusing on inflammatory pathways linking the two conditions. This review was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines. We searched five databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)) for human studies published in English language in the last 10 years. Following full text analysis and quality assessment, 23 studies were included in the review. We found that obesity induces a state of neuroinflammation through blood-brain barrier and choroid plexus disruptions, adipokine dysregulation, and mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to the development or progression of AD. We also identified nine proteins namely, CHI3L1, PTP1B, GDF15, MMP9, PECAM1, C3AR1, IL1R1, PPARGC1α, and COQ3 as potential biomarkers that may serve as therapeutic targets to delay AD onset or progression. These findings underscore the importance of targeting obesity-related inflammation in AD prevention strategies.