Research: Neurological Conditions
There is "a rich and engaging crosstalk between muscle, adipose tissue, and the brain all throughout our lives, happening through factors released in the bloodstream that can reach the brain, however the specific identity of the factors responsible for the crosstalk of muscle adiposity and brain in older adults has not yet been discovered." From "Muscle Fat: A New Risk Factor for Cognitive Decline?" excerpted below.
Muscle Fat: A New Risk Factor for Cognitive Decline?
ABSTRACT: Summary of a study published by lead author Caterina Rosano MD, MPH, professor of epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The authors conclude that muscle adiposity may be a novel risk factor for cognitive decline in older adults. Increasing adiposity — or fat deposition — in skeletal muscles predicted faster cognitive decline, irrespective of demographics or other disease, and this effect was distinct from that of other types of fat or other muscle characteristics, such as strength or mass. There is "a rich and engaging crosstalk between muscle, adipose tissue, and the brain all throughout our lives, happening through factors released in the bloodstream that can reach the brain, however the specific identity of the factors responsible for the crosstalk of muscle adiposity and brain in older adults has not yet been discovered."
Fasting as a Therapy in Neurological Disease
Phillips MCL. Fasting as a Therapy in Neurological Disease. Nutrients. 2019 Oct 17;11(10):2501. doi: 10.3390/nu11102501. PMID: 31627405; PMCID: PMC6836141.
Full Artile: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31627405/
ABSTRACT: Fasting is deeply entrenched in evolution, yet its potential applications to today's most common, disabling neurological diseases remain relatively unexplored. Fasting induces an altered metabolic state that optimizes neuron bioenergetics, plasticity, and resilience in a way that may counteract a broad array of neurological disorders. In both animals and humans, fasting prevents and treats the metabolic syndrome, a major risk factor for many neurological diseases. In animals, fasting probably prevents the formation of tumors, possibly treats established tumors, and improves tumor responses to chemotherapy. In human cancers, including cancers that involve the brain, fasting ameliorates chemotherapy-related adverse effects and may protect normal cells from chemotherapy. Fasting improves cognition, stalls age-related cognitive decline, usually slows neurodegeneration, reduces brain damage and enhances functional recovery after stroke, and mitigates the pathological and clinical features of epilepsy and multiple sclerosis in animal models. Primarily due to a lack of research, the evidence supporting fasting as a treatment in human neurological disorders, including neurodegeneration, stroke, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis, is indirect or non-existent. Given the strength of the animal evidence, many exciting discoveries may lie ahead, awaiting future investigations into the viability of fasting as a therapy in neurological disease.