Could a low-protein, high-carb diet help prevent dementia?

A low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet could potentially help prevent dementia and its associated conditions, a new study has shown.

The research showed improvement in the overall brain health and the learning and memory of mice who were fed complex carbohydrates derived from starch and casein protein, which is commonly found in cheese and milk.

The study, conducted by the Charles Perkins Centre at Sydney University and published in Cell Reports, has shown this same mix of carbs and protein could have similar benefits as calorie restriction which has long been proven to help brain health.

Calorie restriction is very difficult for humans to achieve so these new findings could be an important breakthrough in the link between diet management and dementia research.

Devin Wahl, lead author of the study, said: “We have close to 100 years of quality research extolling the benefits of calorie restriction as the most powerful diet to improve brain health and delay the onset of neurodegenerative disease in rodents.”

“However, the majority of people have a hard time restricting calories, especially in Western societies where food is so freely available.

“It shows a lot of promise that we have been able to replicate the same kind of gene changes in the part of the brain responsible for memory that we also see when we severely restrict calories.”

In 2015, the Charles Perkins Centre published significant research, also on mice, signifying this same diet could help prolong life through improved heart and digestive health.

Diets from other cultures, such as the people of Okinawain, Japan, and many countries in the Mediterranean, have included this mix of protein and carbs for centuries, according to senior author of the study, and Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Sydney, David Le Couteur.

He said: “The traditional diet of Okinawa is around nine per cent protein, which is similar to our study, with sources including lean fish, soy and plants, with very little beef. Interestingly, one of their main sources of carbohydrate is sweet potato.”

In recent years there has been more of a move away from diets higher in carbs with more focus on lean proteins, so this new research turns conventional wisdom on food grouping on its head.

But Mr Wahl said of the research: “There are currently no effective pharmaceutical treatments for dementia – we can slow these diseases, but we can’t stop them – so it’s exciting that we are starting to identify diets that are impacting how the brain ages.”