Did you know that a ketogenic diet may be the key to preventing and overcoming many brain conditions such as Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, Epilepsy, Bi-Polar Disorder, and Depression? In this blog post, we are looking back to the past decade when we came to the realization that Alzheimer's disease may be actually Diabetes Type 3.
In this first video, Dr. Berg interviews Amy Berger on Alzheimer's Disease and how ketogenic diet and exogenous ketones may help reverse the symptoms and improve the cognition.
Could a ketogenic diet be the solution for Alzheimer's we have been waiting for? Another new study shows that a ketogenic diet is good for improving quality of life and activities for daily living in those with Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers say the ketones found in coconut oil have slowed the progression of Alzheimer's disease in some people and may actually prevent it... Check the next video.
For a devastating condition with few if any helpful treatments, this could be the start of a revolution in Alzheimer's care.
In this next segment of this blog post we are looking at an article by Rebecca A. Clay, which was published in 2013 by American Psychological Association (APA), the leading scientific organization with more than 146,000 member researchers in the US. Here is the link to the original bublication: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/02/alzheimers.aspx
According to work by neuro-pathologist Suzanne M. de la Monte, MD, of Brown University and her research team members, Alzheimer's disease is probably caused by Diabetes Type 3. In fact, de la Monte and her team have dubbed Alzheimer’s “Type 3 diabetes.”
In Type 2 diabetes, the body’s cells stop taking in glucose from the bloodstream, either because the pancreas stops creating enough insulin or cells start ignoring insulin’s repeated requests for them to pick up glucose — the latter is the condition known as insulin resistance. With Type 3 diabetes, says de la Monte, the problem is insulin resistance in the brain.
In a paper published in Current Alzheimer Research, de la Monte reviews the growing body of evidence suggesting that Alzheimer’s is fundamentally a metabolic disease in which the brain’s ability to use glucose and produce energy is impaired. In one study, for example, de la Monte and her colleagues found that blocking insulin’s path to the brain resulted in Alzheimer’s-like neuro-degeneration in rats.
Alarmingly, she adds, the drug they used to block insulin in the experiment resembles the nitrites found in many processed foods. High-fat diets exacerbate the neuro-degeneration brought on by nitrites, she says.
Age-adjusted trends in Alzheimer’s and Type 2 diabetes prevalence are similar, de la Monte points out. And because genetic forms of Alzheimer’s represent the minority of cases, she says, the rapid rise in its prevalence suggests an “exposure model” of disease. The evidence, she writes, suggests that Alzheimer’s “is a metabolic disease with virtually all of the features of diabetes mellitus, but largely confined to the brain.”
The findings underscore the importance of psychologists’ helping clients ditch the junk food and get off the couch, says psychologist Margaret Gatz, PhD, whose own research has found diabetes to be a significant risk factor for Alzheimer’s. “We know that if people observe good habits with respect to diet and exercise, it can make a difference in their risk of diabetes and in turn for their risk of dementia,” says Gatz, a professor of psychology, gerontology and preventive medicine at the University of Southern California. “That’s another reason psychologists should absolutely be encouraging good health behaviors and helping people make lifestyle changes.”
While Gatz agrees with the premise of the new research, she’s not 100 percent behind the name “Type 3 diabetes.” “I wouldn’t want diabetes to be the only focus,” says Gatz. After all, researchers are exploring many other risk and protective factors for Alzheimer’s, including intellectual and social stimulation. Says Gatz, “We know that cholesterol, physical exercise and a panoply of other behavior changes could also affect the risk of dementia in later life.”
Dietary Ketosis Enhances Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment
Abstract We randomly assigned 23 older adults with mild cognitive impairment to either a high carbohydrate or very low carbohydrate diet. Following the 6-week intervention period, we observed improved verbal memory performance for the low carbohydrate subjects (p = 0.01) as well as reductions in weight (p < 0.0001), waist circumference (p < 0.0001), fasting glucose (p = 0.009), and fasting insulin (p = 0.005). Level of depressive symptoms was not affected. Change in calorie intake, insulin level, and weight were not correlated with memory performance for the entire sample, although a trend toward a moderate relationship between insulin and memory was observed within the low carbohydrate group. Ketone levels were positively correlated with memory performance (p = 0.04).
These findings indicate that very low carbohydrate consumption, even in the short term, can improve memory function in older adults with increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
While this effect may be attributable in part to correction of hyper-insulinemia, other mechanisms associated with ketosis such as reduced inflammation and enhanced energy metabolism also may have contributed to improved neuro-cognitive function. Further investigation of this intervention is warranted to evaluate its preventive potential and mechanisms of action in the context of early neuro-degeneration. By Robert Krikorian, Marcelle D. Shidler, Krista Dangelo, Sarah C. Couch, Stephen C. Benoit, Deborah J. Clegg; Feb. 2012 Original article published at Neurobiology of Aging: Dietary Ketosis Enhances Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment