NEW YORK, Oct 21, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- U.S., Canadian and British
researchers found a high-protein diet may shrink the brain, a phenomenon linked
to Alzheimer's disease.
Lead author Sam Gandy, a professor at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a
neurologist at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New York,
and colleagues tested four differing menus on mice bred to develop Alzheimer's
disease. The mice were fed either a regular diet, a high-fat/low-carbohydrate
custom diet, a high-protein/low-carb version or a high-carbohydrate/low-fat
option.
The researchers then looked at the brain and body weight of the mice, as well as
plaque buildup and differences in the structure of several brain regions
involved with Alzheimer's disease. Gandy said the researchers unexpectedly found
mice fed a high-protein/low-carbohydrate diet had brains 5 percent lighter than
all the others and regions of their hippocampus -- involved with memory -- were
less developed.
Until researchers test this effect on mice not bred to develop Alzheimer's
disease, it is unclear whether the loss of brain mass is associated with
Alzheimer's disease-type plaque. However, studies in the published literature
led the authors to develop a tentative theory that a high-protein diet may leave
neurones more vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease plaque.
"Given the previously reported association of high-protein diet with
aging-related neurotoxicity, one wonders whether particular diets, if ingested
at particular ages, might increase susceptibility to incidence or progression of
Alzheimer's disease," Gandy said in a statement.
The study is published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International