BOOST cognition with this brain-friendly energy molecule

Friend, you’ve surely heard of “brain food”… or even “brain diets”…

But you might’ve found them IMPOSSIBLE to incorporate into your daily routine.

That’s because most approaches to eating that could boost your cognitive health involve SERIOUS calorie restriction…

And no one WANTS to starve themselves!

But thanks to a recent scientific development… you may not HAVE to.

There could be a way to AVOID going into “starvation mode”… and yet achieve the SAME type of positive results for your cognitive function.

I know it must sound too good to be true. I almost didn’t believe it myself.

After all, I’m always telling you how there are no “quick fixes” or “shortcuts” in life!

But this groundbreaking discovery could PROVE ME WRONG – and I couldn’t be happier about it!

In 2020, a Canadian-based randomized clinical trial showed how drinking a special type of “energy beverage” could help improve mild cognitive impairment.

In that study, folks 55 and older who drank a mixture of ketogenic medium chain triglyceride powder (sold under the brand name Captex 355) and lactose-free skim milk performed BETTER than the placebo group on cognitive tests…

Including GREATER accuracy and FEWER errors in recall… language ability… and executive function.

The theory is that as the participants drank the kMCT beverages… they increased their levels of energy molecules called ketones.

You’ve read about the keto diet right here in eAlert… and how achieving ketosis helps… BURN fat to lose weight

BALANCE your gut bugs, and

BOOST mood.

 

Well, it turns out that using this alternate type of energy source… especially when those ketones can be “taken up” by the brain… could improve cognition, too!

In fact… the study revealed that the HIGHER the ketone plasma levels… the BETTER the cognitive performance!

The key seems to be in how the brain metabolizes glucose.

Now, NONE of the participants in that study had been diagnosed with any glycemic or metabolic issues… and they ALL had normal BMIs.

But we know that the brain is particularly sensitive to sugar… which is one of the reasons why Alzheimer’s disease has been nicknamed “type 3 diabetes.”

And achieving ketosis may be one way to “fix” those sugar-induced brain burps.

Consuming a keto drink is one way to reach ketosis… and following the keto diet is another.

But those aren’t the ONLY ways.

Because you could also take a ketone supplement!

In the latest findings, a different team of Canadian researchers gave a small group of study participants a supplement containing the same type of ketone bodies that are produced naturally in the liver during ketosis.

They’re called beta-hydroxybutyrate, or BHB for short.

After 14 days, the study subjects showed IMPROVED blood flow to the brain…

Which corresponded with BETTER performance on cognitive tests.

Now, cerebral blood flow measurements were important in this particular study… as they tend to be LOWER in obese subjects (like those in the study).

And folks with obesity tend to be in the crosshairs for cognitive impairments, too.

These findings show there may be a connection between RESTRICTING cerebral blood flow and IMPAIRING cognition…

But also between RESTORING cerebral blood flow and IMPROVING cognition!

Now, it appears that one of the ways that the ketone supplement helps “open the floodgates” to blood circulation in the brain is by LOWERING glucose.

And so, we’ve come full circle – back to that first study I shared with you earlier.

Now, one of the advantages of taking a ketone supplement over the other methods of achieving ketosis is how quickly it could start to work.

Study subjects saw improvements after just 14 days of consuming 30 ml of BHB, 3x daily.

Compare that to 6 months of drinking 15 g of kMCT, twice daily.

But BOTH of these options may be preferable to following the keto diet… which you must adhere to STRICTLY in order to force your body to produce the ketone bodies needed for a brain boost.

Now, BHB supplements are relatively new to the market… but they’ve been thoroughly researched and shown to be safe for most healthy folks to take.

You can find BHB in loose powder or capsule form at your local health food store or online. Not all “keto” supplements contain BHB… so be sure to read the label carefully.