Hi All,
I have recently been reading about the neuroprotective properties of 
ketone bodies and chanced upon two separate studies that mention the 
antioxidant properties of ketones. I was pleasantly surprised by this 
finding, as it may explain why, during ketosis, there is an inhibition 
free radical damage we have come to associate with aging. The specific 
focus of my readings lately have been on Parkinson's disease, a 
diagnosis my step-father has recently been given. Although he retains an 
excellent capacity for remembering the routes he must travel in the 
downtown area of the city to which he moved less than a year ago, the 
first thing to start going was his memory for some types of information. 
He has quickly declined into a shuffling gait and speaking with a very 
soft voice - something akin to a whisper.

I had him follow a ketogenic diet for more than 6 months after his 
diagnosis of type 2 diabetes three years ago. His BG has remained well 
controlled since that time, just through dietary restrictions.  He was 
given two cognitive function tests, one was just before he started the 
ketogenic diet, and the other was after several months in ketosis. On 
the first test he scored 14/30 and on the next test he scored 26/30.

He now eats moderate to low quantities of carbohydrates and has not been 
in ketosis for about 2 and 1/2 years. (My mother was alarmed by his 
weight loss and insisted that it was unhealthy for him to be so 
"skinny".) While his shuffling gait is troublesome, and his legs 
continue to weaken, he seems to still be quite sharp intellectually.  I 
have been plowing through Medline abstracts and the studies available 
for free, and now realize that it has been common knowledge, for some 
time, that a state of ketosis protects brain cells from oxidative 
stress. It provides at least some of this protection through the 
antioxidant action of ketone bodies. Some researchers are even asserting 
that the ketogenic diet can halt or prevent Alzheimer's disease and 
Parkinson's disease.

I keep wondering, as I read these papers and abstracts, why the popular 
press doesn't jump all over this stuff. Instead, my newspaper and 
television viewing seem to be fraught with low fat rhetoric, 
interpreting studies that support common beliefs about the benefits of  
low fat dieting. It is a strange situation.

For anyone who might be interested, here is a list of excellent papers 
I've been reading recently:

Accurso A, Bernstein RK, Dahlqvist A, Draznin B, Feinman RD, Fine EJ, 
Gleed A, Jacobs DB, Larson G, Lustig RH, Manninen AH, McFarlane SI, 
Morrison K, Nielsen JV, Ravnskov U, Roth KS, Silvestre R, Sowers JR, 
Sundberg R, Volek JS, Westman EC, Wood RJ, Wortman J, Vernon MC.Dietary 
carbohydrate restriction in type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic 
syndrome: time for a critical appraisal. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2008 Apr 8;5:9.

Balietti M, Giorgetti B, Fattoretti P, Grossi Y, Di Stefano G, Casoli T, 
Platano D, Solazzi M, Orlando F, Aicardi G, Bertoni-Freddari C. 
Ketogenic diets cause opposing changes in synaptic morphology in CA1 
hippocampus and dentate gyrus of late-adult rats. Rejuvenation Res. 2008 
Jun;11(3):631-40.

Buyken AE, Mitchell P, Ceriello A, Brand-Miller J. Optimal dietary 
approaches for prevention of type 2 diabetes: a life-course perspective. 
Diabetologia. 2010 Mar;53(3):406-18.

Flynn M , Christopher Sciamanna C, Vigilante K. Inadequate physician 
knowledge of the effects of diet on blood lipids and lipoproteins. 
Nutrition Journal 2003, 2:19

Gasior M, Rogawski MA, Hartman AL. Neuroprotective and disease-modifying 
effects of the ketogenic diet. Behav Pharmacol. 2006 Sep;17(5-6):431-9

Henderson ST, Vogel JL, Barr LJ, Garvin F, Jones JJ, & Costantini 
LC.Study of the ketogenic agent AC-1202 in mild to moderate Alzheimer's 
disease: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter 
trial. Nutrition & Metabolism 2009, 6:31

Henderson ST. Ketone bodies as a therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease. 
Neurotherapeutics. 2008 Jul;5(3):470-80.

Haces M, Hernandez-Fonseca K, Medina-Campos ON, Montiel T, 
Pedraza-Chaverri J, Massieu L. Antioxidant capacity contributes to 
protection of ketone bodies against oxidative damage induced during 
hypoglycaemic conditions. Exp. Neurol., 2008 May; 211(1): 85-96

Henderson ST. Ketone bodies as a therapeutic for Alzheimer's 
disease.Neurotherapeutics. 2008 Jul;5(3):470-80.

Maalouf M, Rho JM, Mattson MP.The neuroprotective properties of calorie 
restriction, the ketogenic diet, and ketone bodies. Brain Res Rev. 2009 
Mar;59(2):293-315.

Makowske M & Feinman R, Nutrition education: a questionnaire for 
assessment and teaching /Nutrition Journal, /2005, *4*:2 
http://www.nutritionj.com/content/4/1/2

Mandel D, Lubetzky R, Dollberg S, Barak S,Mimouni FB, Fat and Energy 
Contents of Expressed Human Breast Milk in Prolonged Lactation. 
Pediatrics 2005;116;e432-e435

Manninen AH. METABOLIC EFFECTS OF THE VERY-LOW-CARBOHYDRATE DIETS: 
MISUNDERSTOOD "VILLAINS" OF HUMAN METABOLISM. Journal of the 
International Society of Sports Nutrition. 1(2):7-11, 2004.

Pérez-Guisado J, Arguments In Favor Of Ketogenic Diets. The Internet 
Journal of Nutrition and Wellness 2007 : Volume 4 Number 2

Tieu K, Perier C, Caspersen C, Teismann P, Wu DC, Yan SD, Naini A, Vila 
M, Jackson-Lewis V, Ramasamy R, Przedborski S. D-beta-hydroxybutyrate 
rescues mitochondrial respiration and mitigates features of Parkinson 
disease.J Clin Invest. 2003 Sep;112(6):892-901.

Best Wishes,
Ron