Ketones may be the key to unlocking a healthier brain.
Some doctors have recommended diets that increase brain ketone levels as part of the regimen to treat drug-resistant epilepsy in children. Others claim that high ketone levels may be of benefit to those suffering from neurological disorders, including headache, autism, sleep disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, bipolar disorder and even brain cancer. Researchers reported that ketogenic diets may improve verbal skills, memory performance and processing of thoughts in cognitively impaired individuals, such as those with Alzheimer’s Disease. Improvements in memory, language and problem solving have also been reported in non-demented elderly individuals and those with Parkinson’s Disease.
In order for your body to generate ketones for your brain, you must enter the physiological state of ketosis.
“What’s ketosis?”
When you eat three square meals a day (and fill your plate with representatives of each of the four food groups) your brain burns sugar. Glucose, to be precise, and boatloads of it. When your blood sugar dips, your ever-voracious brain commands your body to produce an alternative energy source (ketones) and you enter a state of ketosis. Two common situations where people intentionally induce swooning sugar levels are intermittent fasting or a ketogenic diet.
Intermittent fasting is picking twelve or sixteen hours a day to not eat. After 12 hours without food, many people deplete their glycogen (sugar stored in the liver). In the absence of sugar, certain organs in your body turn to another fat-based energy source: ketones. A ketogenic diet (low carbs, adequate protein and high fat) accomplishes the same ends without self-induced starvation.
Ketones induce metabolic switching in the brain
Intermittent fasting is a mild metabolic stressor. Under ordinary circumstances the brain runs on glucose (sugar), which it burns differently than ketones (derived from ketogenic amino acids and fatty acids). Some scientists have reported that metabolic switching between the two different types of fuel may optimize brain function and resilience. Researchers surmise that metabolic switching impacts multiple signaling pathways that promote neuroplasticity (ability of neurons to change structure and function). Metabolic switching may also increase the resistance of the brain to injury and disease. In 2020, scientists from Singapore reported that intermittent fasting led to increased growth and reproduction of nerve cells (neurons) in the hippocampus (the area of the brain associated with memory formation) of adult rats.
Metabolic switching may confer particular benefits on the neuronal circuits involved in cognition and mood. In 2018, Scientists at National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Johns Hopkins reported their findings on the effects of fasting on the brain. They intermittently deprived rats of food for stretches of either sixteen or twenty-four hours. They discovered that the metabolic brain pathways switched back and forth in the test animals. During the fasting state the animals' brains metabolized ketones and during the recovery period their brains reverted to sugar metabolism. They reported that intermittent metabolic switching, repeating cycles of a metabolic challenge, optimized brain function and resilience throughout the rats' lifespan. They reported particular benefits on the neuronal circuits involved in problem solving and depression.
Ketones are a metabolic brain shield
Independently of metabolic switching, ketones themselves have powerful antioxidant properties, which leads to neuronal shielding. They decrease the production of oxidizing molecules (which might otherwise damage cellular proteins or DNA) and enhance their breakdown. Ketones reduce brain inflammation by increasing the brain availability of certain poly-unsaturated fatty acids. Higher levels of ketones increase the number of mitochondria, so called ‘energy factories’ in brain cells. A recent study found that ketones enhanced mitochondrial activity in the hippocampus, a part of the brain important for learning and memory.
Ketones trigger the release of a brain molecule called BDNF (Brain derived neurotrophic factor), a molecule that helps neurons (brain and nerve cells) in several ways
:
1. BDNF is essential in allowing neurons to thrive, grow and mature.
2. BDNF improves the survival of brain and nerve tissue, which has been subjected to injuries (stroke or trauma).
3. BDNF improves the function of the hippocampus and basal forebrain (part of brain that promotes and facilitates learning).
4. BDNF encourages growth and differentiation of new neurons and synapses.
5. BDNF enhances the survival of neurons subjected to degenerative diseases. For instance, in Parkinson's disease, BDNF enhances the survival of dopaminergic neurons, improves dopaminergic neurotransmission and motor performance.
Why are the anti-inflammatory effects of ketones so beneficial to the brain? They may be shielding from brain inflammation. In 2019, researchers from California and Israel discussed their theory of the mechanism by which systemic inflammation may affect the brain. The brain has a built-in system, known as the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB), which filters out toxins before they can reach the precious neurons. The scientists believe that long standing systemic inflammation may burn tiny holes in the BBB: No longer able to serve as a protective barrier, the compromised BBB becomes a sieve and allows poisons to attack unimpeded.
In 2019, a multinational team of scientists reported on their findings of chronic systemic inflammation (CSI, a long-lasting inflammation that affected widespread areas of the body). They emphasized that CSI may contribute to neurodegenerative disorders such as AD (and other dementias) as well as PD. Other researchers have pointed to inflammation as a contributory factor to psychological disorders, such as depression. Some of the factors that contribute to CSI may be outside your control, such as exposure to environmental and industrial toxins. Other factors which lead to CSI, such as physical inactivity and poor dietary choices are within your control. In addition to raising your ketone level, you can protect your brain from the damaging effects of CSI by avoiding excess sugar, too much alcohol, fried foods and nitrates.
Want to learn more? check out https://amzn.to/3utS9CG
The BBB system and it's function are truly fascinating ✨
I'm glad to hear that intermittent fasting has so many brain benefits. I'm especially interested in reducing inflammation, and it makes sense that IF would help there, too.
I've been fasting for years, usually for at least 14 hours. What sort of food schedule do you tend to have?