From: Natural News
According to a new study carried out at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, fasting for one or two days each week may help improve the condition of individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Researchers have found that stopping nearly all food intake for short periods of time triggers a protection mechanism within the brain which also works against the effects of neurodegenerative disorders.
Calorie intake impacts the brain
Professor Mark Mattson, lead author of the study and professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, explained at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver that “reducing your calorie intake could help your brain, but doing so by cutting your intake of food is not likely to be the best method of triggering this protection. It is likely to be better to go on intermittent bouts of fasting, in which you eat hardly anything at all, and then have periods when you eat as much as you want. In other words, timing appears to be a crucial element to this process.”
The science team lead by Dr. Mattson discovered that reducing food intake to approximately 500 calories per fasting day yields optimal effects and can significantly improve long-term cognitive function. Foods that may safely be consumed during fasting days include an assortment of fiber-rich vegetables, unsweetened tea and water.
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