More and more people are incorporating healthy lifestyle habits into their day-to-day that positively impact their physical and mental health. Having a good diet is key to achieving this goal, and in recent times ketogenic or intermittent fasting diets have gained in popularity. Both strategies cause a decrease in blood glucose levels. Considering that this is the main nutrient of the brain, the professor of UIC Barcelona explains how each of these diets affects the brain, what benefits they bring and what differentiates them from the Mediterranean diet in the article published in The Conversation.

“The ketogenic diet reduces the consumption of sugars and increases the consumption of fats of plant and animal origin, which cause tissues to oxidise fats instead of glucose as the main source of energy,” explains the professor of Biomedicine of the University. This induces the production of ketone bodies as nutrients in the brain, in a process known as ketosis. Intermittent fasting follows a similar process.

As detailed in her article, different studies have shown that ketone bodies generated by these diets “not only act as energy substitutes for glucose in the brain but have the ability to repair our neurons.” Accordingly, they improve brain functionality and plasticity, and help prevent cognitive decline in certain groups such as elderly people. In addition, as a recent study by her research group shows, “cytogenetic bodies neutralise the negative effects of saturated fats on cognition.”

On the other hand, the traditional Mediterranean diet, rich in complex carbohydrates, unsaturated fats and fibre, also shows benefits for general health while preventing cognitive decline in elderly and Alzheimer's patients. Given the benefits shown by the three diets, Casals warns that “there is one marked difference to take into account before choosing one strategy or another. While the Mediterranean diet is balanced and carries no health risk, intermittent fasting and the ketogenic diet require medical supervision, as they can be counterproductive in certain situations.”

The article published by the UIC Barcelona researcher shows that reducing sugar consumption is not harmful to the brain. On the contrary, excessive consumption of simple sugars such as sucrose, glucose or fructose has negative effects on memory and cognitive functions, as it triggers insulin resistance, leading to cognitive decline, especially in neurodegenerative diseases.

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