The Surprising Effect of the Popular Diet on the Brain - Walla! health

2022-01-13T06:52:36.839Z

The ketogenic diet that cuts out carbs and sugars from the menu and replaces high-fat foods is one of the popular ways to lose weight. Israeli researchers have discovered what it does to the brain

The surprising effect of the popular diet on the brain

The ketogenic diet that cuts out carbohydrates and sugars from the menu and replaces them with high-fat foods is one of the most popular ways to lose weight in recent years, but Israeli researchers have discovered something very important that it does to the brain.

Walla! health

13/01/2022

Thursday, 13 January 2022, 08:08 Updated: 08:44

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A new international study led by Tel Aviv University states that a ketogenic diet may improve with brain damage after traumatic brain injury. Research shows that diet improves spatial memory and visual memory, lowers brain inflammation indices, causes at least neuronal death and slows the rate of cellular aging. The study was led by Prof. Haim (Hagai) Pick, head of the Adams Institute for Applied Research in Sports, and doctoral student Meirav Har-Even Karzner, a clinical nutritionist and brain researcher, both from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. .

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and long-term disability in the developed world.

It is estimated that every year over 10 million people worldwide suffer from traumatic brain injury caused as a result of a hard object head injury, a blow, a top blast, road accidents, sports injuries and the like.

This damage can lead to physical, cognitive, behavioral and emotional damage, and is also a risk factor for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Today, despite the high frequency of brain injuries, there is no proven effective treatment that can help those suffering from this injury.

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No sugars, no carbs, with lots of fats.

Salad with ketogenic ingredients (Photo: ShutterStock)

Researcher Har-Ibn Karzner explains that a ketogenic diet that leads to changes in the consumption of common foods is based on high fat percentages, and aims to mimic a state of fasting.

The diet significantly restricts foods that contain carbohydrates (for example: bread, sugar, grains, legumes, snacks, pastries and even fruits) and at the expense of this restriction eat high-fat products such as: meat, fish, eggs, avocados, butter and more.

This is a diet that can continue for long periods of time.

The diet causes an increased production of ketone bodies in the liver that are used to produce energy, these bodies are transferred in the bloodstream to the brain and nourish it optimally.

This diet has been used in Israel and around the world for nearly 100 years among children with epilepsy, and in recent years the ketogenic diet has also become popular among people who want to lose weight.

It should be noted that due to the significant nutritional restriction involved in the ketogenic diet it is important to consult a professional like a doctor or nutritionist before starting it.

"The findings were unequivocal"

In the study, conducted on model animals, the researchers identified that the ketogenic diet greatly improves the patient's brain function.

For this purpose, the researchers used advanced methods that included, among other things, behavioral-cognitive tests, biochemical tests and immunohistochemical cell staining (a method in biology for the detection and placement of proteins in a tissue section).

The mechanism by which a ketogenic diet manages to do good with brain damage has not yet been fully discovered but studies show that it has an antioxidant and metabolic effect on mitochondria (important organs in the cell whose main function is energy and respiration), lowers free radical production Biochemical in the cell).

"The findings were unequivocal and showed that the ketogenic diet improves spatial memory and visual memory, lowers brain inflammation indices and also slows the rate of cellular aging," said Prof Pick, adding that "these results may open the door to further studies that will inspire hope in traumatic brain injuries and their families." ".