High-Fat, Low-Carb Diet Delays Memory Loss in Alzheimer’s Mouse Models

A recent study has found that the ketogenic diet, or keto diet, known as a popular diet regimen that emphasizes low carbohydrates and high fat, significantly delays the onset of initial memory loss in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease at the Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) stage.

According to the academic journal Communications Biology from the Nature Group, a research team led by Professor Gino Cortopassi at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in the United States announced the results of a comparative experiment on the 20th in which they fed a ketogenic diet and a regular diet to mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease for seven months.

The ketogenic diet comprises low carbohydrates, high fat, and moderate protein. This diet changes the body’s primary energy source from glucose to fat, creating ketones, an acidic component produced while using fat as an energy source.

This diet was developed in the 1920s as a regimen to suppress epileptic seizures and is still used in the treatment of recurrent seizures in teenagers. It is also widely used as a diet for weight loss.

The research team, which previously found that the lifespan of rats on a ketogenic diet was extended by 13%, investigated the effects of the ketogenic diet on synapses, the areas where brain neurons connect, in this study.

For this, they conducted an experiment in which they fed a ketogenic diet and a regular diet to mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease for seven months and found that mice on a ketogenic diet showed increased synaptic plasticity. This characteristic can be involved in various brain functions as the structure and function of the synapses change. Synaptic plasticity is known to be important in memory formation and learning.

The hippocampus of mice on a ketogenic diet did not change in the presence of beta-amyloid (Aβ), a causative substance of dementia. Still, the blood ketone indicator beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) increased almost sevenfold.

Professor Cortopassi stated, “This means that BHB plays a central role in preventing initial memory loss,” and “This result supports the idea that a ketogenic diet, especially BHB, can delay mild cognitive impairment and slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Co-corresponding author Professor Izumi Maezawa also observed “the amazing ability of BHB to improve synaptic function which connects all nerve cells in the brain,” and said, “When nerve cells are better connected, memory problems of mild cognitive impairment are improved.”