Israeli scientists have found that a high-fat, low-carb nutrition regime, otherwise known as a ketogenic diet, reduced the cognitive effects of brain injury in mice, and could do the same for humans.
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Researchers at Tel Aviv University probed the possible benefits of the ketogenic diet – which is already used to help some epileptic patients – on mice who suffered brain injuries.
According to their findings, published in Scientific Reports, more than 50% of the cognitive function lost by brain-injured mice was restored after the mice were on the diet for more than two months.
A control group of brain-injured mice who were on a regular diet did not reap the same benefits.
"The important thing here is that we have identified a diet that can seemingly help restore cognitive ability after brain injury," research director Prof. Chaim Pick of the Sagol School of Neuroscience told The Times of Israel (ToI).
"Having completed the study on mice, [we] are moving forward to explore the same approach to help brain-injured humans."
The ketogenic diet involves drastically reducing the intake of carbohydrates – bread, sugar, grains, pastries – and replacing these food items with high-fat products like meat, eggs, or butter.
In adopting the regime, one's body becomes significantly more efficient in burning fat for energy, partly by producing ketone bodies, which supply energy for the brain.
Pick explained that the brain-injured mice were helped by boosting the energy supplied to their brains, ToI reported.
"In our study, the benefits of the diet weren't evident only from cognitive ability, but also from biochemical markers among mice that ate the ketogenic diet," the researchers said.
i24NEWS contributed to this report
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