http://www.breakthroughdigest.com/html/a_high_fat__low_carbohydrate_d.html

Source: BioMed Central

A high fat, low carbohydrate diet improves Alzheimer's disease in mice

Study may also have implications for dieters

(Oct-2005) Mice with the mouse model of Alzheimer's disease show improvements in
their condition when treated with a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. A report
published in the peer-reviewed, open access journal Nutrition and Metabolism,
showed that a brain protein, amyloid-beta, which is an indicator of Alzheimer's
disease, is reduced in mice on the so-called ketogenic diet.

The report, by Samuel Henderson, from Accera, Inc, Colorado and colleagues from
Belgium runs counter to previous studies suggesting a negative effect of fat on
Alzheimer's disease.

"This work supports the premise that key aspects of Alzheimer's disease can be
altered by changes in metabolism. It also highlights the interaction of dietary
components and how such components influence the metabolic state", write the
authors.

The authors believe that insulin and the related hormone, insulin-related growth
factor-1 (IGF-1), are the key players. "Insulin is often considered a storage
hormone, since it promotes deposition of fat but insulin may also work to
encourage amyloid-beta production."

Richard Feinman, editor of the journal, explains the relation between nutrients:
"You might say that fat is the bomb, and insulin (from carbohydrate) is the
fuse. Most studies of the deleterious effects of fat have been done in the
presence of high carbohydrate. If carbs are high, dietary fat is not oxidized
and is instead stored as body fat." When carbohydrates are very low and fat is
high, compounds called ketone bodies are generated (ketosis) and these compounds
may play a role in the observed reduction in amyloid-beta. In association with a
group from University of Washington led by Dr. Suzanne Craft, Henderson has
previously shown cognitive improvement in patients with mild AD who were given a
diet that raises ketone bodies.

In an accompanying editorial, Feinman says, "Although it is too early to tell
how the results will fit into the treatment of AD, the implication for diet in
general is also important." The primacy of insulin as a control element is the
basis of popular weight-loss diets based on carbohydrate restriction. Such
regimens allow dieters to regulate fat and calorie intake by appetite alone as
long as carbohydrate intake remains minimal. Feinman points out, "Henderson's
effort is one of several recent studies that point the way to understanding
metabolism beyond the issues surrounding simple fat reduction."

And there's me been on a low fat diet.....
--
2 + 2 = 5 for sufficiently large values of 2.