I just got my weekly e-letter from Dr Mirkin and this week's letter was so great, I thought I'd post it with the group. Studies showed that seniors who ate more calories suffered much more Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Fasting twice a week seems to reduce the risk greatly. Enjoy!
-Rick Stewart
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Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
February 23, 2012
Fasting Two Days a Week May Benefit Your Brain
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
have collected evidence that reducing food intake to under
500 calories per day for two days a week may help to prevent
brain damage from Alzheimer's or Parkinson's Diseases (Annual
Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science in Vancouver, February 19, 2012).
FASTING GROWS NEW NERVES: Mark Mattson of Johns Hopkins
has shown that fasting increases the growth of new neurons in the
brain, and this can help prevent dementia. He believes that:
"The cells of the brain are put under mild stress that is analogous
to the effects of exercise on muscle cells."
He also showed that skipping meals stimulates brain
cells in mice to produce Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)
that causes the brain to grow new nerves, helps protect nerve
cells from being damaged by toxins, and helps mice learn new
things.
SKIPPING MEALS PROTECTS THE BRAIN: Earlier studies showed
that mice who fast every other day while eating double the normal
amount of food on non-fasting days have better protection from
becoming diabetic (lower insulin and sugar levels), and less brain
damage from poisons than mice on 40 percent calorie-restricted diets
{Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 13, 2003;
100(10):6216-6220; and The Journal of Nutrition, June 2003;133
(6): 1921-1929}. Meal-skipping mice gorge when provided food so
they do not eat fewer calories than mice on unrestricted diets.
In the same study, mice were given a chemical, called
kainate, that damages nerves in the same part of the brain
damaged by Alzheimer's disease. The meal-skipping mice had far
less brain damage than those who were on a 40 percent reduced
calorie diet.
EXERCISING HELPS YOUR BRAIN STORE MORE GLYCOGEN: More
than 98 percent of the energy for the brain comes from sugar in
the bloodstream. Ten years ago, it was shown for the first time
that certain brain cells, called astrocytes, store sugar in the
same way and form (glycogen) that muscles store sugar. Like
muscles, the brain can store extra glycogen and like muscles,
the brain will have greater endurance and function better when
it stores more glycogen.
During exercise, your brain uses up tremendous amounts
of sugar, directing each muscle fiber to contract and relax.
It takes a lot of energy to do this. Recently, a study from Japan
showed that when rats exercise, their brains use up their stores
of glycogen in the same way that muscles use up glycogen (J Physiol,
August 15, 2011;589(Pt 16):4079). When the rats ate after exercising,
their brains, like their muscles, were able to store up to 60 percent
more glycogen than they could before they exercised. After 24 hours,
their brain levels of glycogen dropped to their previously lower
levels.
However, when the rats continued to exercise regularly for
four more weeks, their brains were able to store much higher levels
after eating and the levels did not drop soon afterwards.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU? Future studies will tell
if intermittent fasting is more effective than overall calorie
restriction in preventing and treating dementia in humans.
Meanwhile, you may want to try intermittent fasting to lose weight
or to avoid the weight gain that often comes with aging. The recent
studies shows that adding exercise to intermittent fasting may make
you even smarter.
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http://www.drmirkin.com/morehealth/8690.html
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How Excessive Food Intake Damages the Brain
Older people who consume more than 2,143 calories a
day have more than double the risk of memory loss called mild
cognitive impairment (MCI), compared to those who ate fewer than
1,500 calories a day (To be presented at the American Academy of
Neurology's 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, April 21, 2012).
People with MCI have problems with memory, language or thinking
severe enough to be noticeable to other people and to show up on
tests, but not serious enough to interfere with daily life.
THE STUDY: Participants ages 70-89 reported the amount
of calories they ate or drank in a food questionnaire and were
divided into three equal groups: 600-1,525 calories per day,
1,526-2,143 per day, and 2,144-6,000 per day. The more calories
the participants took in, the higher their risk for MCI.
Many other studies show that obesity increases, and
caloric restriction decreases, risk for Alzheimer's. Anything
that is bad for the heart is bad for the brain, and people who
eat too much are at increased risk for heart attacks, strokes,
diabetes and memory problems.
RESTRICT CALORIES: People in their 70s and 80s who do not
exercise regularly should not take in more than 2,100 calories
per day. Animal studies suggest that it is the excess fat formed
by overeating, and not just the excess calories, that damages the
brain. This means that regular exercisers can take in more
calories, as long as they are not gaining fat.
HOW FAT HARMS YOUR BRAIN: Full fat cells send out
cytokines that turn on your immunity. Your immunity is supposed
to be used only to kill organisms that invade your body and
abnormal cells such as cancer cells. They kill invading
organisms by producing chemicals that dissolve the outer coatings
of bacteria and send out antibodies that attach to and kill the
invading organisms. When your immunity stays on all the time,
these same defense mechanisms dissolve your own tissues and kill
your own healthy cells. Being overweight damages every tissue in
your body, including your brain.
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