The ketogenic diet is best known as a weight loss diet for its positive effects on cravings, fat burning, and blood sugar. However, its benefits go well beyond your metabolism. Adopting a keto diet may also support brain health.
The Keto and Brain Health Connection
The ketogenic diet emphasizes low carbohydrate intake and high fat consumption to induce ketosis, a metabolic state where the body produces ketones as an alternative fuel over glucose. Ketones are a more stable, efficient fuel source, which is great news for your brain.
Does keto affect the brain? A consistent energy source may reduce oxidative stress and brain inflammation. Ketones may also offer some neuroprotective effects when it comes to cognition as you age and your risk of neurodegenerative disorders, and boost mental performance.
7 Brain Health Benefits of a Ketogenic Diet
Researchers have uncovered many potential mechanisms by which a low-carbohydrate diet like keto positively impacts brain health. Let’s look at these beneficial effects in more detail.
Improved Cognition
We know excess glucose, or stored glycogen, can impair cognition and that cognitive dysfunction is a common type 2 diabetes-related complication. Researchers believe this has to do with how glucose behaves when consumed in excess. (#)
Sugar molecules cross the blood-brain barrier like hurried passengers streaming into a crowded terminal. Too many glucose passengers mean lower cognitive performance. (#)
How does the ketogenic diet impact cognitive function? Ketones also cross the blood-brain barrier, but unlike glucose, they appear to enhance cognition and brain function. (#)
In one animal study, scientists found that rats fed a ketone-rich diet were better able to navigate a complex maze. (#) Systematic reviews show keto’s positive effects on working memory, reference memory, and attention. (#)
It’s important to note here that side effects like brain fog, fatigue, and gastrointestinal symptoms like constipation right after switching to keto are temporary. Known as the “keto flu,” your body is adjusting to using ketones for energy over glucose. The potential for long-term cognitive benefits far outweigh the short-term effects. For an added brain boost, cognitive enhancers like nootropics are linked to reduced stress, better sleep, and improved mental clarity.
Our Keto Nootropic is a doctor-developed supplement full of brain-boosting nutrients linked to increased attention and focus.
May Reduce Inflammation
In the short term, brain inflammation can manifest as depression, anxiety, and sleep issues. Long-term consequences include an increased risk of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and certain psychiatric disorders.
Reducing brain inflammation, whether it’s acute from an injury or chronic, systematic inflammation, is a pillar of brain health. The best strategy is to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle; a brain inflammation diet is one way to embrace that.
Are ketones anti-inflammatory? Ketones and inflammation are closely linked. The keto diet has been shown to potentially reduce inflammation in a few different ways:
- Ketosis reduces glucose availability. As a result, you reduce an important energy ratio called NADH:NAD+. (#) The decrease of this ratio activates a protein called CtBP that tells your genes to turn off inflammation.
- Ketosis keeps blood sugar, or blood glucose, low. This, in a way, acts like an insurance policy for your brain. High blood sugar, or hyperglycemia, exacerbates brain inflammation. Over time, this may impair cognition and increase your risk of dementia.
- Ketosis stimulates adenosine, a chemical that reduces pain and inflammation. Elevated adenosine levels, especially during stress or brain injury, may help suppress excessive inflammation in the brain. (#)
- Burning ketones produces fewer reactive oxygen species (ROS). At reasonable levels, ROS serve an essential immune-signaling function. In excess, these free radicals can damage and inflame every organ system, including the brain.
- Ketone bodies like beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) have been vigorously studied for their anti-inflammatory signaling properties. BHB inhibits an immune complex called the NLRP3 inflammasome, which contributes to chronic inflammation when left unchecked. (#)
Improved Mental Health
Can keto affect you mentally? The keto diet may support mental health by influencing your brain chemistry, stabilizing mood-regulating hormones, and reducing brain inflammation.
The neuroscience agrees. Ketones are known to reduce fluctuations in blood sugar levels that can impact mood. This stability may help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety and enhance the balance of calming neurotransmitters like gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). (#)
The anti-inflammatory properties of the diet are also important. Chronic inflammation has been linked to mental health disorders like depression and bipolar disorder and is a barrier to a healthy gut-brain axis. (#)
Keeping inflammation in check supports a healthier gut microbiome, a key component of your gut-brain connection. An improved environment for beneficial bacteria supports the neurotransmitter production of hormones like serotonin.
This can impact mood and cognition, improving both brain health and your mental well-being.
May Help Your Brain Heal From Trauma
If you’re not on keto, your brain heavily relies on glucose for energy. A trauma like a concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI) can impair glucose metabolism to the point of energy deficits that can delay your recovery time.
The keto diet offers an alternative energy source during and after these periods of stress on the brain. Ketones are also anti-inflammatories that may positively affect brain swelling, learning, and memory. They may even protect your brain against long-term effects from trauma. (#)
Studies have shown enhanced recovery with ketogenic interventions, which may mean keto has promise as a therapeutic tool for brain healing. (#) It’s still early in the research, but what we know so far is promising for keto dieters.
Could Decrease Your Risk of Alzheimer’s
The precise causes of Alzheimer’s disease are still unknown, but it’s fairly clear that inflammation plays a crucial role. It seems likely that declining mitochondrial function, or impaired energy production in the brain, also contributes to the disease.
A low-carb diet like keto may reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s by providing the brain with an alternative energy source that compensates for reduced energy production. (#)
Studies show a strong link between medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), a nutritional source of ketones, and improved Alzheimer’s symptoms. (#)
On top of their effect on mitochondrial function, ketones may also reduce oxidative stress and lower inflammation, two key contributors to brain health. Early research suggests the diet may also reduce the accumulation of amyloid plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s, on the brain. (#)
Can Help With Epilepsy
Keto wasn’t always used to lose weight or maintain body weight. It was first used to treat epilepsy when researchers in the 1920s discovered the benefits of both fasting and ketogenic states on seizure activity.
One potential anti-seizure mechanism involves potassium. Ketosis reduces the outward flow of potassium from cells. (#) Adequate potassium levels are important for maintaining the balance of electrolytes in the body, stabilizing neuronal activity, and, as a result, preventing seizures.
Glutamate and GABA may also play a role. Glutamate is excitatory, which is not desirable for seizures, while GABA is inhibitory. High ketone levels appear to shift these neurotransmitters in the right direction from an epilepsy-treatment perspective. (#)
Epilepsy aside, having more GABA in your system promotes relaxation overexcitability, and we’ve already talked about the potential benefits of that on your mental health.
Could Decrease Your Risk of Dementia
Keto’s potential effects on dementia work in a similar way to the diet’s neuroprotective effects against Alzheimer’s. By providing the brain with an alternative energy source over glucose, ketosis may effectively slow the progress of conditions like dementia.
One of the key advantages of nutritional ketosis is its ability to reduce neuroinflammation and oxidative stress, both of which are linked to age-related dementia. (#) Reduced brain inflammation may also help protect neurons from further damage and support overall brain health.
The Takeaway
An anti-inflammatory lifestyle is your best defense against chronic inflammation that can affect brain health and increase your risk of neurodegenerative disorders. This lifestyle might include a high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet, especially in older adults.
Adopting a keto diet can be an important part of combating inflammation and giving your brain cells the energy they need to operate optimally.