Ketogenic diet in neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases.

Abstract

An increasing number of data demonstrate the utility of ketogenic diets in a variety of metabolic diseases as obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. In regard to neurological disorders, ketogenic diet is recognized as an effective treatment for pharmacoresistant epilepsy but emerging data suggests that ketogenic diet could be also useful in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer, Parkinson's disease, and some mitochondriopathies. Although these diseases have different pathogenesis and features, there are some common mechanisms that could explain the effects of ketogenic diets. These mechanisms are to provide an efficient source of energy for the treatment of certain types of neurodegenerative diseases characterized by focal brain hypometabolism; to decrease the oxidative damage associated with various kinds of metabolic stress; to increase the mitochondrial biogenesis pathways; and to take advantage of the capacity of ketones to bypass the defect in complex I activity implicated in some neurological diseases. These mechanisms will be discussed in this review.

• Authors: Antonio Paoli, Antonino Bianco, Ernesto Damiani, Gerardo Bosco
• Journal: BioMed research international (Biomed Res Int) Vol. 2014 Pg. 474296 ( 2014) ISSN: 2314-6141 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25101284 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Glucose
• 3-Hydroxybutyric Acid

Topics

• 3-Hydroxybutyric Acid (metabolism)
• Alzheimer Disease (diet therapy, metabolism)
• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (diet therapy, metabolism)
• Brain (metabolism)
• Diet, Ketogenic
• Glucose (metabolism)
• Glycogen Storage Disease (diet therapy, metabolism)
• Humans
• Mitochondrial Diseases (diet therapy, metabolism)
• Parkinson Disease (diet therapy, metabolism)