Keto diet fights against Alzheimer's

Eating low-carb and high-fat diet can help you fight against Alzheimer's disease, by protect neurons from death during the progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to new research in mice.

"Ketogenic" is a term for a low-carb diet (like the Atkins diet). Early in the development of Alzheimer's disease, the brain becomes over excited, potentially through the loss of inhibitory, or GABAergic, interneurons that keep other neurons from signaling too much.

Because interneurons require more energy compared to other neurons, they may be more susceptible to dying when they encounter the Alzheimer's disease protein amyloid beta.

Amyloid beta has been shown to damage mitochondria by interfering with SIRT3, a protein that preserves mitochondrial functions and protects neurons.

The researchers genetically reduced levels of SIRT3 in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease. Mice with low levels of SIRT3 experienced a much higher mortality rate, violent seizures and increased interneuron death compared to the mice from the standard Alzheimer's disease model and control mice.