Alzheimer's disease can be accurately predicted by analyzing biomarkers in spinal fluid, Belgium researchers have found.

A protein signature was found in the cerebrospinal fluid of 90 per cent of people with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and 72 per cent of people with mild cognitive impairment or MCI, a disorder that often progresses to Alzheimer's.

For the study, Geert De Meyer of Ghent University in Belgium and colleagues in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative analyzed data from 114 older adults who were cognitively normal, 200 who had mild cognitive impairment, and 102 who had Alzheimer's disease, and then cross-checked the findings in two smaller groups.

The start of the Alzheimer's disease process is often unobserved and is thought to precede the first symptoms by 10 years or more, the researchers said in this week's issue of the Archives of Neurology.

Elderly people with a large waist circumference regardless of their body mass indexes (BMI) may have to face a higher risk of premature death from all causes including heart disease, according to a study in the Aug 9/23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

Early studies have linked a large waist circumference with inflammation, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, abnormal cholesterol levels and heart disease.

In a press release, JAMA and Archives Journals suggests that the possible reason for the elevated premature death risk is because waist circumference is associated with adipose tissue in the viscera-surrounding the organs in the abdomen.

For the study, Eric Jacobs PH.D. and colleagues at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta examined the correlation between waist circumference and risk of death among 48,500 men and 56,343 women aged 50 or older. During a six-year follow-up, a total of 9,315 men and 5,332 women died.

After considering other risk factors such as body mass index or BMI, the researchers found very large waists (greater than 47 inches in men and greater than 42 inches in women) were associated with about twice the risk of death during the follow-up.

The elevated risk was observed in all categories of body mass index meaning that even those who had a normal body mass index could be at higher risk of premature death if they had a large waist circumference.

"The reason for the stronger association between waist circumference and mortality among women with low BMI in our study is unclear," the authors wrote.

"Future detailed analyses of the relationship between waist circumference and visceral adipose tissue or measures of insulin resistance within categories of BMI could identify biological reasons for potential differences in the strength of the association between waist circumference and mortality."

Another study in the July 28 2010 issue of Journal of the American Geriatrics Society also suggests that waist circumference but not BMI predicts long-term mortality in elderly people with chronic heart failure.

Testa G and colleagues from Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II" in Italy followed up 1332 men and women aged 65 or older for about 12 years and found mortality increased as waist circumference increased in elderly subjects without chronic heart failure.

In people with heart failure, the increase was even greater.

The researchers also found each 1-cm increase in waist circumference increased the long-term risk death by 2 percent among people without chronic heart failure and 5 percent among people with the health condition.

What can people do to reduce the risk of acquiring a large waist circumference?  The general rule still applies here: You are what you eat. One needs to pay attention his diet and nutrition to prevent a large waistline.

Dr. Joe Mercola, a natural health advocate, reported in his newsletter that both ethanol metabolism and fructose metabolism lead to visceral adiposity (belly fat) in addition to their contribution to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

The Endocrine Society issued a press release this year saying that fructose sugar, which is present in an ingredient called high fructose corn syrup that is widely used in processed foods and soft drinks, makes maturing human fat cells fatter and less insulin sensitive.

Although the cause for the large waist line remains largely unknown, food consumers may want to consider reducing their dietary intake of fructose to see that would help reduce the visceral-adipose tissue and cut their body mass index scores.