High-Fat Diet May Help Slow Brain Aging

A well-balanced diet is essentially critical to overall health and well-being. Yet did you know that a high-fat diet could help keep the brain sharp, focused and "young"?

Recent findings published in the journal Cell Metabolism examined how mice with a DNA defect that's responsible for Cockyane syndrome were healthier with a high-fat diet. As this health issue is known to cause children to age prematurely, researchers from the Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen and the National Institute of Health discovered that diet played a critical role in the aging process and helped stall related hearing impairments and weight loss.

"The study is good news for children with Cockayne syndrome, because we do not currently have an effective treatment. Our study suggests that a high-fat diet can postpone aging processes. A diet high in fat also seems to postpone the aging of the brain. The findings therefore potentially imply that patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease in the long term may benefit from the new knowledge," said lead study author Professor Vilhelm Bohr from the Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen and the National Institute of Health, in a news release.

"In cells from children with Cockayne syndrome, we have previously demonstrated that aging is a result of the cell repair mechanism being constantly active. It eats into the resources and causes the cell to age very quickly. We therefore hope that a diet with a high content of coconut oil or similar fats will have a beneficial effect, because the brain cells are given extra fuel and thus the strength to repair the damage," concluded postdoc Morten Scheibye-Knudsen from the National Institute of Health.