Ketogenics and Alzheimer's Disease

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            Ketogenics is a diet in which a person limits their carbohydrate intake in order to starve the body for glucose and promote the synthesis of ketone bodies. The purpose is to utilize fat stores in the body for fuel and diminish fat deposits and ultimately lose weight. Ketosis is the state which many diabetics find themselves given that their lack of insulin does not allow them to utilize dietary glucose. The problematic aspect of this is that the brain uses glucose for fuel. While the brain can survive off of ketone bodies, it is not the optimum fuel source.
            Research into Alzheimer's disease (AD) has found that glucose uptake in the brains of AD patients is diminished (Lange, Lange, Makulska-Gertruda, Nakamura, et al., 2017). New research is being conducted to determine the possibility of treating AD with ketogenics. The idea is that if the brain can no longer use glucose, it can instead use ketone bodies for fuel (Lange et al., 2017).
            Studies where ketosis was induced in AD patients through high fat, low carb, low protein diets, and through oral administration of medium chain triglycerides has shown moderate cognitive improvements in AD patients (Lange et al., 2017). More research is needed, but ketosis is proving to be a possible cure to Alzheimer's disease. It would be incredible if nutrition was found to be the cure of this disease rather than pharmaceutical medicine.

-CK

Lange, K. W., Lange, K. M., Mukulska-Gertruda, E., Nakamura, Y., Reissman, A., Kanaya, S., & Hauser, J. (2017). Ketogenic diets and Alzheimer’s disease. Food Science And Human Wellness, Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2017), (1), 1. doi:10.1016/j.fshw.2016.10.003

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