In a new study from King’s College London, researchers found that Intermittent Fasting (IF) is an effective means of improving long-term memory retention.
They found that a calorie-restricted diet via every other day fasting was an effective means of promoting Klotho gene expression.
Klotho, which is often referred to as the “longevity gene” has now been shown to play a central role in the production of hippocampal adult-born new neurons or neurogenesis.
Adult-born hippocampal neurons are important for memory formation and their production declines with age, explaining in part cognitive decline in older people.
The finding has the potential to slow the advance of cognitive decline in older people.
In the study, the team split female mice into three groups; a control group that received a standard diet of daily feeding, a daily Calorie Restricted (CR) diet, and Intermittent Fasting (IF) in which the mice were fed every other day.
The latter two groups were fed 10% fewer calories than the control.
Over the course of three months, the mice in the IF group showed improved long-term memory retention compared to the other groups.
When the brains of these mice were studied, it was apparent that the Klotho gene was upregulated, and neurogenesis increased compared to those that were on the CR diet.
These results demonstrate that Klotho is not only required, but plays a central role in adult neurogenesis, and suggests that Intermittent Fasting is an effective means of improving long-term memory retention in humans.
The team’s previous work has demonstrated that calorie-restricted diets in humans can improve memory function.
That research showed that Intermittent Fasting can enhance learning processes and could affect age-associated cognitive impairment.
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The study is published in Molecular Biology. One author of the study is Dr. Sandrine Thuret.
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