Not a gram of carbohydrates
Mice on a ketogenic diet live longer and retain mental clarity in old age
Two independent studies conducted on mice have shown that the ketogenic diet reduces mortality in middle age, as well as improves cognitive abilities in older animals.
With a ketogenic diet, carbohydrate intake is reduced to a minimum or even to zero, and fats become the main source of calories. The body receives energy in the process of ketogenesis, when fatty acids are oxidized in the liver and ketone bodies are formed: acetone, acetoacetic acid and beta-hydroxybutyric acid. Ketone bodies are the "fuel" for cells in the absence of glucose.
Beta-hydroxybutyric acid (BHA) is particularly interesting to scientists: according to earlier studies, it performs signaling functions in the body, thus regulating the processes of inflammation and gene expression, which affects life expectancy and age-related diseases. The ketogenic diet allows you to increase the content of BHA in blood plasma without starvation and exhausting physical exertion.
In both studies, the mice were divided into three groups. One group was on a ketogenic diet (0% carbohydrates), the other – on a high-fat, but not ketogenic (15% carbohydrates), the third group was a control. At the same time, fats in the diet of mice were vegetable, unsaturated.
Scientists from the Buck Institute for Aging Research in a preliminary study found that mice on a ketogenic diet, like mice on a high-fat diet, quickly gained weight. Then the researchers changed the diet: mice were kept on a ketogenic diet for a week, and on a control diet for a week. In this way, it was possible to avoid obesity in mice, and scientists called the mixed diet a cyclic ketogenic diet.
The results of the study showed that prolonged exposure to a cyclic ketogenic diet, starting from middle age, reduced the mortality of mice in middle age, increased their overall life expectancy, and also improved their physical condition, cognitive abilities and memory in old age – mice found a way out of mazes faster.
A study by scientists from the University of California at Davis confirmed that the life expectancy of mice on a ketogenic diet increased in comparison with the control group. Also in these mice, according to the results of the study, the deterioration of cognitive and motor functions caused by aging slowed down.
A deeper understanding of the mechanisms of the effect of ketone bodies, and in particular beta-hydroxybutyric acid, on the state of memory may be useful for finding new treatments for dementia.
The research is published in the journal Cell.
Even for omnivorous people, the ketogenic diet is very dangerous. Will the data obtained on grain-eating mice that were fed only fats be confirmed? Or maybe the harm of the "Kremlin diet" (or the Atkins diet) was compensated by its cyclical nature... – VM.
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08.09.2017