What I'm gonna tell you today is that fasting does good things for the brain.
One thing that happens when you fast that does not happen when you eat three meals a
day is that your energy metabolism shifts so that you start burning fats.
And you produce what are called ketone bodies.
Now it turns out, ketone bodies are very good for your brain and I'll talk about that in
a minute.
So what do I mean by intermittent fasting or intermittent energy restriction?
There's a lot of variations that are being used on this.
This book called the 8 hour diet - there's evidence that if you restrict the time window
that you eat each day to eight hours or less, that's long enough to shift the energy metabolism.
OK why does fasting bolster brain power?
Fasting is a challenge to your brain and your brain responds to that challenge of not having
food by activating adaptive stress response pathways that help your brain cope with stress
and resist disease.
Why is it that way?
Well, if you're hungry and haven't found food, you better figure out how to find food.
You don't want your brain to shut down and in fact, that's what we find in the animals
- nerve cells circuits are more active.
Some of the changes in the brain that occur with intermittent fasting also occur with
vigorous exercise.
Exercise and intermittent fasting both increase the production of proteins in the brain that
are called Neurotrophic Factors.
We found that these neurotrophic factors such as FGF and one called BDNF, brain derived
neurotrophic factor, promote the growth of neurons, promote the connection of neurons
and strengthening of the synapses.
Recently we discovered that fasting by increasing BDNF levels in the brain, this neurotrophic
factor, can increase the number of mitochondria in your nerve cells.
I mentioned ketones which come from burning fat and that happens during fasting.
We're doing...
my work in my lab trying to understand why ketones are good for neurons - one reason
is they provide an alternative fuel for the neurons that boost the energy levels in the
neurons.
So, I'm gonna end with this slide and thank you very much for your attention and try it
out.
You can just play around with this, and you'll find on the days that you don't eat so much,
you're more productive.
Thank you.