A high fat, low carbohydrate diet helps against Alzheimer's disease

17/10/05 Mice with the mouse model of Alzheimer's disease show improvements in their condition when treated with a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. A report published in the peer-reviewed, open access journal Nutrition and Metabolism, showed that a brain protein, amyloid-beta, which is an indicator of Alzheimer's disease, is reduced in mice on the so-called ketogenic diet.

The report, by Samuel Henderson, from Accera, Inc, Colorado and colleagues from Belgium runs counter to previous studies suggesting a negative effect of fat on Alzheimer's disease.

The authors believe that insulin and the related hormone, insulin-related growth factor-1 (IGF-1), are the key players.

Richard Feinman, editor of the journal, explains the relation between nutrients: "You might say that fat is the bomb, and insulin (from carbohydrate) is the fuse. Most studies of the deleterious effects of fat have been done in the presence of high carbohydrate. If carbs are high, dietary fat is not oxidized and is instead stored as body fat." When carbohydrates are very low and fat is high, compounds called ketone bodies are generated (ketosis) and these compounds may play a role in the observed reduction in amyloid-beta. In association with a group from University of Washington led by Dr. Suzanne Craft, Henderson has previously shown cognitive improvement in patients with mild AD who were given a diet that raises ketone bodies.