High-fat diet postpones brain aging in mice

November 6, 2014

Kerala coconuts (credit: Dan Iserman CC)

A new Danish-led research suggests that signs of brain aging can be postponed in mice if they are placed on a high-fat diet. The finding may one day allow for developing treatments for children suffering from premature aging and patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

The new research project, headed by the Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, and the National Institute of Health, studied mice having a defect in their DNA repair system, resulting in a Cockayne syndrome. Putting the mice on a high-fat diet postponed aging processes such as impaired hearing and weight loss. In humans, this defect causes patients to prematurely age as children and die at an age of 10–2 years.

"The study is good news for children with Cockayne syndrome, because we do not currently have an effective treatment," says Professor Vilhelm Bohr of all three organizations, who headed the study. "Our study suggests that a high-fat diet can postpone aging processes. A diet high in fat also seems to postpone the aging of the brain. The findings therefore potentially imply that patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease in the long term may benefit from the new knowledge."

Our brain has a constant need for fuel in the form of either sugar or ketones. Ketones are the brain's fuel reserve, and, in particular, play an important role in periods of low blood sugar levels, e.g., if you are fasting. This is because the body breaks down fat if it needs sugar, and during this process it produces ketones. The researchers see a particular positive effect when the mice are given medium-chain fatty acids, such as from coconut oil.

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