The ketogenic diet can prevent the Alzheimer’s disease?
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-associated neurodegenerative disease that is very common in the US, affecting up to 50% of people between the ages of 75 to 84 years [1] . The number of cases of AD will increase dramatically in the next 50 years due to the aging population of the developed world and will present an increasing medical challenge Clinically, AD is characterized by progressive impairment in memory and language and is frequently accompanied by behavioral symptoms, such as anxiety and depression. Pathologically, AD is characterized by accumulation of senile plaques, dystrophic neurites, and neurofibrillar tangles. The plaques contain large amounts of the β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide derived from cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). Mutations in APP that result in increased generation of a particular form of Aβ (Aβ42) have been identified in familial cases of AD and this connection has led to the hypothesis that Aβ is central to the etiology of AD . However, APP functions as a vesicular transport protein and the etiology of the disease may not be directly related to Aβ, but rather to abnormal cleavage of APP and failure to efficiently move vesicles in the axons [4]
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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that primarily strikes the elderly. Studies in both humans and animal models have linked the consumption of cholesterol and saturated fats with amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition and development of AD. Yet, these studies did not examine high fat diets in combination with reduced carbohydrate intake. This report is aimed to reveal the effect of a high saturated fat/low carbohydrate diet on a transgenic mouse model of AD,Starting at three months of age, two groups of female transgenic mice carrying the "London" APP mutation (APP/V717I) were fed either, a standard diet (SD) composed of high carbohydrate/low fat, or a ketogenic diet (KD) composed of very low carbohydrate/high saturated fat chow for 43 days. Animals fed the KD exhibited greatly elevated serum ketone body levels, as measured by β-hydroxybutyrate, compared to SD fed animals.
