The brain is not exempt from the rancid effects of obesity, especially in your midsection.
Reducing belly fat is much more about looks.
Researchers are finding something pretty interesting about body composition and brain aging.
It turns out that people who carry more muscle and have less visceral fat — the deep belly fat packed around organs, not the soft stuff under the skin — tend to have brains that look biologically younger.
This isn’t about how old someone is on paper, but how old their brain appears on imaging.
The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America which concluded in December 2025.
Dr. Cyrus Raji, the senior author, explained that if you have more muscle and less “hidden” fat in the stomach (visceral fat), you’ll have a healthier and younger brain.
How MRI Plays Into All This
MRI scans can measure brain structure and estimate “brain age.”
Think of it like a biological age score based on how youthful or worn the brain looks physically.
Body MRI can also measure muscle mass and different types of fat.
Researchers used that to check whether people with certain body compositions also had older or younger looking brains.
Muscle mass can signal stronger overall health and less frailty. Certainly, this would positively impact the brain – not just the heart, liver and kidneys.
Losing muscle as we age is common, but the study suggests the loss may track with how fast the brain ages as well.
What The Study Looked At
Freepik/Andres Ayrton
The team studied 1,164 healthy adults, about half women, with an average age around 55.
They used whole-body MRI scans that clearly separate muscle, fat and fluids.
An AI system analyzed the images and estimated brain age, muscle volume, visceral fat and subcutaneous fat (fat below the skin).
The Study Results
People with higher visceral fat (fatter midsections), relative to muscle, tended to have older looking brains.
The adults with more muscle had more youthful looking brains.
Subcutaneous fat didn’t really seem to matter for brain aging.
Building Brawn Builds a Better Brain
That’s a lot of B’s, but it’s true.
The “brawn” need not be bulky or hulking.
Building more lean muscle tissue and reducing visceral fat (fat around the organs) are goals that people can work toward.
What Does NOT Work for Losing Belly Fat
Whether it’s just below the skin or deeper and the more harmful kind, belly fat will not go away by doing crunches, sit-ups or side bends.
To rid excess fat, you must increase your body’s expenditure of energy — even during sleep.
The way to do this is to add muscle — to rev up your resting as well as active metabolic rate.
Here is the best way to add that lean muscle for the most effective way of busting deep belly fat.
