Benefits of Intermittent Fasting on the Brain and Focus

     I found some realty interesting studies on the benefits of intermittent fasting (IF) on the brain and overall cognitive function. This study gives specific cellular benefits to holding off on breakfast for a few hours in the morning for better focus, or adding in a 1 day fast each week! They linked certain animal studies on specific brain related disorders to studies on the effects of IF, and concluded that individuals with these diseases could improve their brain function by adding IF to their routine! Next time you’re having some brain fog or want to switch up something in your diet, you may want to try IF.

    Intermittent Fasting is limiting your calorie intake for 12-28 hours, alternated with normal food intake. Most people take on this approach at night. They stop their food intake at 7 or 8pm and don't eat until noon the next day, although there are different variations of fasting. The first benefit to intermittent fasting is this idea of “flipping the metabolic switch”. Your body switches from glycogenolysis to lipolysis, or to releasing stored fat in the form of lipids to be broken down by your body. These lipids are metabolized to ketones. This is key for the brain since they regulate transcription factors in specific neurons. Many of these neurons are associated with the upregulation of brain derived neurotropic factors (proteins that are associated with survival, growth, plasticity, and synthesis or neurons). This results in mitochondrial biogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and favored catabolic processes that actually enhance stress resistance, tissue repair, and recycling of damaged molecules and proteins. IF also enhanced the gut microbiome, which can lead to positive functional and anatomical changes in the brain. All of these cellular changes including ketone injections, inducing gene expression, and tissue repair mechanisms are beneficial and can improve cognitive function, focus when studying, or even prevent brain related diseases! They reviewed certain findings on animal studies for diseases such as MS, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s, and concluded that the effects of IF in these diseases could improve their symptoms and cognitive function! Something else interesting that they noted was that certain diets that induce ketone production may have similar effects on the brain. From an ethical standpoint, in terms of beneficence we have a moral obligation to further study this and perform trials since this could seriously benefit those with preexisting brain related diseases. 

Gudden, Jip, et al. “The Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Brain and Cognitive Function.” Nutrients, vol. 13, no. 9, 2021, p. 3166., https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13093166. 

Scarmeas, Nikolaos, et al. “Nutrition and Prevention of Cognitive Impairment.” The Lancet Neurology, vol. 17, no. 11, 2018, pp. 1006–1015., https://doi.org/10.1016/s1474-4422(18)30338-7.