Researchers Reveal How a Keto Diet Could Help Reduce Alzheimer-Causing Fungi in the Gut
A research group determined the organisms in the gut microbiome by "sequencing the fungal rRNA ITS1 gene" in 17 elderly individuals, from which 11 of them had diagnosed MIC and six with normal cognition.
Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine recently found specific fungi in the gut linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease and found in individuals who have mild cognitive impairment or MCI can be changed advantageously by eating a Mediterranean diet. This small study came out in EbioMedicine journal's most recent online edition.
According to Hariom Yadav, the study's principal investigator, their research presents distinctive fungi that co-live with microbes in the gut of an individual who has MCI can be moderated through the use of a Mediterranean ketogenic diet.
Yadav is also a molecular medicine assistant professor at Wake Forest Baptist Health's Wake Forest School of Medicine.
In what the researchers described as the "single-center, randomized, double-blind crossover preliminary study," Yadav's research group determined the organisms in the gut microbiome by "sequencing the fungal rRNA ITS1 gene" in 17 elderly individuals. Of the 17, 11 had diagnosed MIC, and six had normal cognition. After six weeks of a Mediterranean ketogenic diet, they were able to identify a link to Alzheimer's markers in cerebrospinal fluid and gut bacteria.
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The Study: A First of Its Kind
According to Yadav, even though there is no complete understanding of how such fungi contribute to Alzheimer's disease, this is the first research of its kind to explore the function in humans' mental health. Hopefully, this study will "ignite thinking in the scientific world to cultivate a better understanding of the association with Alzheimer's disease."
Furthermore, the study specifies that an individual's dietary habits like eating a ketogenic diet can reduce harmful fungi in the gut, which might reduce Alzheimer's disease processes in the brain.
Mediterranean Diet
Even though there is a broad agreement about the notion that working out and diet are two main factors to help manage body weight, the ideal amount and time of activity, and more importantly, the perfect diet for weight control remains debatable.
An extensively accepted nutritional system is the Mediterranean diet, which has proven health benefits. Nonetheless, some researchers emphasized that it is plausible that the diet's impacts result from lifestyle factors, aside from the mere macronutrient structure of the diet.
Such lifestyle factors can be substantial contributors to health benefits, such as certain food choices.
Several other food choices are available to physicians that may lead to positive results in weight loss in either short or medium term, not to mention the maintenance of the attained goal.
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Ketogenic Diet
Among the strategies for choosing the right food is the ketogenic diet or KD, which has been extensively examined recently.
Scientific works have presented that KD consists of a "robust physiological and biochemical basis." Additionally, this particular diet is capable of inducing an efficient weight loss regimen and improving various cardiovascular risk limitations.
Such inconsistency enables researchers to combine the Mediterranean diet's well-known advantageous impacts with some KD's favorable metabolic implications.
Researchers have also discussed the diet's physiological basis and how to integrate it with the Mediterranean culture.
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