There may be a way to keep the brain energized and thinking clearly, and the answer could start with what’s on your plate. Foods like fish and seafood, meat, non-starchy vegetables, berries, nuts, seeds, eggs, and even high-fat dairy products are under scientific scrutiny for their potential to support brain function.
Researchers are exploring how effective these foods can be. Their work suggests that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate eating plan, known as the ketogenic diet, might help maintain brain health and possibly slow or prevent cognitive decline in people who face a greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Inside the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building, Ai-Ling Lin, a professor in the School of Medicine, and doctoral student Kira Ivanich are focusing on whether the ketogenic diet provides special benefits for people born with the APOE4 gene (the strongest known genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease).
In a recent mouse study, Lin and Ivanich found that females carrying the APOE4 gene developed healthier gut bacteria and showed higher brain energy levels when following a ketogenic diet compared with a control group that ate more carbohydrates. Males, however, did not experience the same changes. These findings are helping scientists understand which individuals might gain the most from adopting a ketogenic diet.
