Fast Mimicking Altzheimer's and Neurological Disease

Fast Mimicking Diet 8: Neurological Disease

 References: The End of Alzheimer's, Aging, JAMA Internal Medicine, Science Daily, Cell Metabolism, 

 What we most fear in aging is Alzheimer's disease, in particular because if we live to be 85 years old in America, 50% of us develop dementia. In England, Alzheimer's beats heart disease as the number one cause of death. It is the penultimate marker of aging, and its prevention is a high priority. 

Bredesen has developed a unique program in which he believes "No One" should get Alzheimer's. It should be noted that the very first step in his program is a low carbohydrate diet, and the second is 12 hours of nightly fasting. These are both cardinal features of the Fast Mimicking Diet. Longo has taken his own unique approach to the problem be starting with mice having the same genetic defects that lead to dementia in humans. Mice can be genetically manipulated to have clean experimental models for Alzheimer's, and they develop it in much shorter time periods. He conducted an experiment in which every other week, the study mice received very low essential amino acids, mimicking a protein-deficient fasting diet. He found a 75% reduction in IGF-1, the growth factor that strongly correlates with cancer, that persisted months after the fast mimicking period. And those mice performed better on cognitive testing.

   The next step was to examine the features of healthy human diets that resist Alzheimer's. Mediterranean diets that are rich in olive oil show resistance to Alzheimer's. 447 study participants were randomized to getting extra olive oil and 1 oz of nuts a day or a regular diet. The extra nuts and fat made a difference with less cognitive decline, albeit modest on the order of 13%. Bredesen takes this further and advises that people eat coconut oil every day and add extra olive oil to their diets. We don't have huge human studies yet on the FMD but Bredesen has now added intermittent fasting, along with Longo's admonitions to his protocol as foundational to the lifestyle changes we need to make in his Alzheimer's ReCode program. 

It is all part of tipping the balance in the human brain towards building new cells and stop making beta-amyloid. To summarize, the Fast Mimicking Diet requires a 5 day stretch each month of 1,100 to 800 calories. The calories are 7% protein and at least 50% fat - mostly from nuts and coconut.  In between the 5 day cycles, you should have at least 12 hours a night of fasting, 14 hours if you have 2 APOE4 genes and keep shifting your calories towards vegetables and away from animal (cheese, yogurt, milk, meat). Consider fish a twice-a-week treat. Two key things happen with this: a) you turn on your vacuum cleaner (called apoptosis) that cleans up unhealthy, dead cells and b) your stem cells surge and stay up for months every time you do it. Your brain needs stem cells.  

www.What will Work for me. Well, I start month three on my own experiment today, Monday. I've been assembling snacks and kits of alternative foods so that I can figure out how to do this without buying the kits, as I intend to do this the rest of my life, at least every 3 months. And the walking season is upon us. The snow is gone (almost) so time to get my 10 k day. 

 Pop Quiz  

1. What happens in mice's memory who do the FMD?                     Answer: they get better memory and their IGF-1 dropped 75%
2. Do mice give us a good model for humans?                   Answer: Unfortunately, no.
3. Longo has published a great article on Fasting and its Mechanisms?               Answer: Yes: Homework!
4. What two core beneficial effects occur with 5 days of Fast Mimicking?            Answer: a) Your vacuum cleaner and b) New Stem Cells to replace the gunk
5. How many hours a day should you NOT eat?                       Answer: 12 is a minimum, 14 is better, and mandatory if you have two APOE4 genes.