In new research, keto diets may improve brain health

In new research, keto diets may improve brain health, There has been a finding by the researchers that suggests a mechanism which underpins the improvement in aging male mice who were fed ketogenic diets or diets containing ketones.

Researchers have reported that cycling male mice between a control diet and a ketogenic diet improves the signaling between the synapses in the brain by improving the levels of electrical charge among the synapses, they suggest.

There has been evidence previously that cyclic ketogenic diets can reduce the midlife risk of death in male mice and prevent the memory decline associated with normal aging. In a proof-of-concept study, some male mice were given a ketogenic diet during their midlife. Among the authors of the paper is Dr. John Newman, MD, PhD, who is one of the scientists who contributed to its publication.

It was decided to study the effects of the ketogenic diet after reading two semi-epoch-making papers in 2017 that showed its beneficial effects on the overall health of mice, which included their brain performance. This is why we decided to study the effect of the ketogenic diet,” said Christian Gonza lez-Billault, who holds a PhD from the University of Chile and is the director of the Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism.

For the purpose of further investigating the previous findings on the topic the researchers kept 19 male mice of a normal age, referred to as an “old age” in mice, on either a control diet, or a ketogenic diet, cycling with the control diet every other week in order to investigate the previous findings in greater detail.

Among older mice, the ketogenic diet was associated with a reduction in blood sugar levels, an improvement in memory, and an improvement in motor function. Furthermore, it was found that older mice had improved plasticity in the region of the brain known as the hippocampus, which was also demonstrated by the researchers.

In the study we were specifically interested in the effect of the diet on older mice because, in previous studies, we had found that the impact of the diet was milder, and in some cases, did not show a significant difference from a control diet in young mice. Gonza lez-Billault states, according to the above antecedents, that one of the beneficial effects of the diet might be the maintenance of resilience in aged mice and the improvement of their physiological functions over time.

In addition, small studies in humans have also shown that the keto diet has the potential to affect cognition in a positive way, especially for older adults with dementia.

Timenews1 provided that information.