Looks like just 12 hours of fasting can do enough autophagy to help prevent Alzheimers and other neurodegenerative diseases.
I’m a fasting wimp so great to know that fasting appears to give partial credit! Saw what Alzheimers did to my grandfather. Don’t want to put @Rajseth through that.
Study also found that exercise also helps hoover up a cell’s waste proteins.
First time I’ve started a topic, so be gentle with me folks!
Thank you for this. Most interesting.
I have been a nurse since 1976 and have seen a tremendous increase in the number of people with dementia/Alzheimer disease. It is the most debilitating illness.
Discovering the ketogenic diet and it’s role in preventing, and even reversing, metabolic illnesses has been a great revelation to me. With weight loss as a side effect, whats not to like.
I just wish it was more mainstream.
Great article that summarizes some information.
I wonder what they consider vigorous exercise?
That’s terrifying! I hadn’t realized.
The research Dr. Palmer referenced is only a couple of weeks old. His blog post seems to be in the “popular today” section, which is a good sign. It feels to me like Keto is approaching a tipping point. I keep meeting more folks in our community who are doing keto. Hoping we are approaching a “Tipping Point.”
I hope so too. In the UK Dr Aseem Malhotra, a leading cardiologist, has lobbied parliament.
The link is on this site somewhere but I am a bit of a technophobe when it comes to posting links!
I see in the comments under the Psychology Today article above, Dr. Palmer just answered similar questions in the comments.
I’m excerpting… “In this particular study, they had healthy subjects do “a single bout of high-intensity cycle exercise at 85% increasing to 92% maximum Watts produced for 9–11 min.” This is what is commonly referred to as HIIT - high intensity interval training. All that I can really say is that is the type of exercise they used in this study. It’s not clear if other types would also do this. However, the researchers did study the effects of epinephrine (or adrenaline) and found that that was related to this effect, so slow moving exercise that doesn’t get your heart rate up may not have the same benefit”…
“It’s not clear if other types of exercise would also do this. However, the researchers did study the effects of epinephrine (or adrenaline) and found that it was related to this protein-clearing effect, so slow moving exercise that doesn’t get your heart rate up (and increase your adrenaline levels) may not have the same benefit.”
Strength training is supposed to enhance mitochondrial function in the muscles; I don’t know about the brain, however. But β-hydroxybutyrate is supposed to help clear away amyloid plaque and neurofibrillary tangles (which are apparently part of the problem with Alzheimer’s disease), and the neurons’ ketone metabolism can still work fine even when their glucose metabolism is breaking donw (another part of the problem, apparently), so my guess is that anything that enhances serum ketone levels ought to be useful.
Very interesting. I hope someday they can determine the clearing factor of a water fast, and determine the relationship between length of fast and amount of clearance.
My grandfather on my father’s side came down with dementia in his early 80’s so this is something that is more frequently in the back of my mind.
I never considered any direct avoidance strategies before starting keto, although I was generally healthy before jumping on this bandwagon. It really fired off my thinking about longevity and overall health in a way that I hadn’t done in the past.
@PaulL I agree, it appears that there may be some initial evidence that keto can potentially lower the risk factor, and that ketones (exogenous or endogenous) may provide some symptom relief for patients already suffering from Alzheimers by providing an additional energy source to neurons.
Thanks! I find it amusing that while the causal relationship between exercise and weight loss is being disproven, our understanding of the relationship between exercise and brain health etc. is strengthening. Besides, I feel better when I’m (trying) to include both strength training and HIIT! Thanks for the reminder!
On a different note, might you be Paul, the Bacon Meister, that my hubby keeps quoting? I’ve definitely benefited from all of the bacon jerky’s that you’ve inspired him to make! Nice to put a face to the heroic
stories. Hope we’ll see you at KetoFest 2019!
Tell Raj my thanks, and let him know that the jerky didn’t last long at all. Please thank him also for the recipes, which I am looking forward to trying out.
If I can afford it, I’ll definitely be at Ketofest. You may not remember, but we met last year. 
Ahh. With the pictures, now I do. Just didn’t connect with all the stories about My Bacon Friend from the Forums!