Even if you are obese in your 60s, if you fast like this… will it slow down brain aging?

It has been shown that obese elderly people with metabolic problems improve their brain health by improving insulin resistance when they eat a healthy diet.

The U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA) research team announced on the 17th (local time) that they reached this conclusion by comparing brain changes in elderly people who followed the intermittent fasting diet or the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) healthy living diet for 8 weeks. This study was published in the journal ‘Cell Metabolism’.

The research team randomly selected 40 elderly people (average age 63 years) with insulin resistance and had them follow a 5:2 intermittent fasting diet. I restricted my calories to one-quarter of the recommended daily intake for two consecutive days a week. Or, they were asked to follow the USDA Healthy Living Diet. This diet involves eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and low-fat dairy products and reducing intake of sugar, saturated fat, and salt.

As a result, both intermittent fasting and a healthy lifestyle diet slowed brain aging and improved cognition and insulin resistance. Intermittent fasting also led to improved physical function and weight loss. Alzheimer’s biomarkers did not change on both diets.

The onset of Alzheimer’s or dementia is related to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a metabolic condition in which cells are unable to remove glucose from the bloodstream. This also increases the risk of dementia.

The research team collected blood at the 4th and 8th weeks and isolated nerve cell-derived extracellular vesicles (NDEV). NDEVs are small pieces of nerve cells that are released into the bloodstream. The research team used NDEV as a non-invasive method to examine insulin use in nerve cells. They also assessed cognitive ability and measured the rate of brain aging and glucose use using magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Additionally, NDEV and cerebrospinal fluid were examined to identify biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease.

This study suggests that diet may improve brain health in older adults with metabolic disorders.