Keto Diet: Eating low carb has anti-aging effects on the brain in a study in mice

FDue to the temptations of the Halloween candy season, it is increasingly difficult to adhere to the extremely low carb and ko sugar diet. But even if you do not care about the effects of the keto diet on weight loss, new research suggests that it's worth giving sweets to tricks or treatments. The effects of the keto diet on brain, researchers write, can last much longer than its effects on the body.

In two new articles – one in Scientific reports and a review article in Frontiers in Neuring Science – Ai-Ling Lin, Ph.D., who is studying aging at the University of Kentucky, used brain imaging techniques in mice to show that ketone-based diet slows down critical aging-related processes .

An anti-aging diet for mice?

Mice that adhered to the keto diet in Lin's experiments tended to have more blood circulation in the brain, indicating that the diet slows the aging process in the brain and keeps the blood flow high. This process is moderated by the signaling pathway called mTOR, which explains Lin, has a considerable influence on longevity.

"MTOR has been very well researched in aging research," says Lin reverse. "MTOR is a nutrient sensor. So when you remove the signal, the body will think that it lacks glucose or nutrients. It will tell the body to grow slowly or to expend energy more slowly. If you inhibit mTOR signaling, it can prolong longevity. An easy way to do this, she says, is to limit calories.

It makes sense intuitively: the organism is likely to conserve resources when it thinks that there will not be much food in the future. What's interesting about Lin's research is that he showed that the keto diet – which is do not a type of calorie-restricted diet – has a similar effect.

A typical keto diet mainly includes fats and proteins with very little (or no) authorized carbohydrate. Lin's results suggest that this diet forces the body to burn fuel sources other than glucose, the source of fuel that we get from carbohydrates. This fuel consists of "ketone bodies", the biochemical byproduct of combustion fat instead of sugar.

It is the crucial physiological change that is thought to produce an anti-aging effect. By switching to fat as a source of energy on a keto diet, the body is forced to suppress the mTOR signal. He interprets the lack of glucose as a sign that he has fallen into a difficult time and is slowing down the process of growth – and aging – as a result.

"Calorie restriction and ketone bodies are like twins," she says. "If you reduce calorie intake, ketone bodies will increase. If you administer the ketogenic diet to someone, you automatically inhibit glucose uptake and then inhibit mTOR. "

Will it work on people?

Lin believes that strict diets can potentially fight the aging of the human brain, but using what she calls "precision nutrition" in this way will not be as simple in humans as in mice. First, we will need to know more about how the body of each potential patient responds to high fat diets. The anti-aging effect depends on the body's ability to metabolize fats, and some bodies are better than others. Fortunately, genetic testing can help identify these people.

"Everyone has very different genetic knowledge, so some people's genes can take fat and use it. But some people's genes can not do that and it can cause ketosis, which makes the body more acidic and can lead to health problems, "she says.

Determining the right genotype for this intervention will be the next step in her research. At this point, it is encouraging to know that an anti-aging diet for the brain might exist, but the specifics of this diet, it seems, will probably be different for everyone.

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