Promote mental fitness through strict diet

Study: Can mental fitness be promoted through a strict diet?

12/21/2011

According to a recent study, a low-calorie diet should promote mental fitness. Italian scientists showed this in a study with mice that received about 30 percent less food. Responsible for mental fitness is a protein molecule, which is stimulated by low-calorie diet. Scientists now hope to activate the molecule even without dieting with the help of drugs.

Protein molecule for good brain function is activated by low-calorie diet
Obese people suffer from dementia more often in old age than people without weight problems. Cause could be a too high-calorie diet. According to the US Journal „Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Italian researchers have discovered that low-calorie diet activates the protein molecule CREB1, a molecule responsible for mental fitness and longevity.

Mice respond to reduced amounts of food with better cognitive abilities
For the study, mice were fed with only 70 percent of their usual amount of food. By activating the CREB1 protein molecule, the animals developed better cognitive abilities, later or more rarely became Alzheimer's and less aggressive. The link between reduced nutrition and better brain function has been known to researchers for some time, but the cause was unknown. Study author Giovambattista Pani now speculates that protein molecules can be activated without dieting with medication. The results of the study can help to develop future therapies to stop the aging of the brain.

Makes unhealthy diet „fat and stupid“?
That unhealthy diet makes you fat has long been known. According to the results of the Italian researchers, researchers like the US neurologist Marc Gordon have suggested that they have found out why obese people are more likely to suffer from dementia in old age than people without weight problems.

Early in the year, US scientists concluded in two independent studies that there is a direct relationship between obesity and impaired brain function. Incorrect diet in combination with obesity can shrink entire brain regions, causing further disturbances in eating behavior, the scientists report.

Antonio Convit of Nathan Kline of the Institute for Psychiatry Research in New York and colleagues found that overweight individuals had a significant reduction in certain reward and appetite centers in the cerebrum as well as significant structural damage. Terry Davidson of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Illinois, and his PhD student Scott Kanoski, conclude in their study that brain damage and the ensuing vicious circle are set in motion by the wrong diet. (Ag)

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Image: Gerd Altmann, Pixelio.de