Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:474296. doi: 10.1155/2014/474296. Epub 2014 Jul 3.

Ketogenic diet in neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases.

Paoli A1, Bianco A2, Damiani E1, Bosco G1.

Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 3, 35031 Padova, Italy.

Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Unit, University of Palermo, Via Eleonora Duse 2, 90146 Palermo, Italy.

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.

PMID:  25101284

PMCID:  PMC4101992

DOI:  10.1155/2014/474296

[Indexed for MEDLINE]