The Effects of Dietary Interventions on Brain Aging and Neurological Diseases

Abstract

Dietary interventions can ameliorate age-related neurological decline. Decades of research of in vitro studies, animal models, and clinical trials support their ability and efficacy to improve behavioral outcomes by inducing biochemical and physiological changes that lead to a more resilient brain. Dietary interventions including calorie restriction, alternate day fasting, time restricted feeding, and fasting mimicking diets not only improve normal brain aging but also slow down, or even reverse, the progression of neurological diseases. In this review, we focus on the effects of intermittent and periodic fasting on improving phenotypic outcomes, such as cognitive and motor-coordination decline, in the normal aging brain through an increase in neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity, and decrease in neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and oxidative stress. We summarize the results of various dietary interventions in animal models of age-related neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and Multiple Sclerosis and discuss the results of clinical trials that explore the feasibility of dietary interventions in the prevention and treatment of these diseases.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s; Parkinson’s; aging; brain; epilepsy; intermittent fasting; multiple sclerosis; neurological diseases; periodic fasting.

Figure 1

Summary of reviewed findings in animal and human studies of AD, PD, epilepsy, and MS. PF: periodic fasting; IF: intermittent fasting; CR: caloric restriction; DR: dietary restriction; KD: ketogenic diet; Aβ: amyloid beta; SN: substantia nigra.