Low-Protein, High-Carb Diets Promote Healthy Brain Aging

A study published in Cell Reports found low-protein, high-carbohydrate diets promote longevity, healthy brain aging, and improvement of memory and learning skills, according to Earth.com . The researchers fed mice complex carbohydrates derived from starch, and casein protein derived from cheese and milk. They then examined the animals' hippocampus. "The low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet appeared to promote hippocampus health and biology in the mice, on some measures to an even greater degree than those on the low-calorie diet," said University of Sydney Professor David Le Couteur. The team compared the positive brain health benefits of a low-protein, high-carb diet to those of a calorie-restricted diet, which humans can rarely adhere to. "It shows a lot of promise that we have been able to replicate the same kind of gene changes in the part of the brain responsible for memory that we also see when we severely restrict calories," noted the University of Sydney's Devin Wahl.