Fasting diets may boost brain power by putting the body in survival mode
Intermittent fasting may provide your brain with more energy, improving memory and learning capabilities, according to a new study. Researchers from the National Institute on Aging found that when mice were fed every other day, they grew more neurons and synaptic connections, improving their cognitive functions.
The new findings support previous research showing the health benefits of fasting for age-related and cardiovascular diseases.
During intermittent fasting, the body switches energy sources from glucose, made in the liver, to fat cells, which stimulate activity and cell growth in the brain, according to the study.
The body runs off of the liver’s energy stores for about 10 to 14 hours in humans, says Mark Mattson, chief of the laboratory of neurosciences at the National Institute of Aging.
‘When those stores are out, human, as well as animal bodies switch to fat stores, which are converted into compounds called ketones in the blood.
The principle is essentially the same one behind popular keto diets, which also put the body in a ‘starvation’ state, encouraging it to draw on fat cells - rather than glucose - for energy.
‘Ketones act directly on the nerve cells to stimulate production of BDNF’ - a key protein to neuron growth - ‘and may help optimize cognition, learning and memory building,’ says Dr Mattson.
The result, which he and his team observed in mice, is better mental function, lasting a week or two. ‘One would assume that in evolution, individuals whose brains did not function well in the fasting state were likely not to survive,’ says Dr Mattson, ‘so, we evolved to eat intermittently, and it’s important that the brain functions well - perhaps even optimally - when we haven’t been able to eat for an extended time period.’
Dr Mattson says that the every-other-day fasting his team used for the mice probably wouldn’t work for people, but previous research has shown that subjects adjust relatively easily to the increasingly popular 5:2 fasting regimen, which requires two days of fasting each week. Another ongoing study is now measuring how intermittent fasting on the 5:2 plan might be beneficial for obese people who are ‘at risk of cognitive impairment because of their ages and metabolic statuses,’ says Dr Mattson.