An update on brain fatty acid metabolism (Romano et al., 2017)
This was an interesting review, although it got off to a rocky start by stating: “glucose is the preferred energy substrate of the brain.”
My opinion is that “preferred energy substrate” is a weird concept in this context. When glucose declines and ketones increase, ketones will be used. Are they preferred now?
I’m not saying either are preferred. Just making note of this.
Given the title of the article, I was expecting a lot on DHA/fish oils but there was a good deal on ketones.
Yes, the brain definitely uses ketones; this is particularly important during starvation and it comes in handy during hypoglycemia.
it’s likely that you can avoid going into a coma during hypoglycemia if there are a lot of ketones around. Brain doesn’t use a lot of fatty acids, probably, to reduce the risk of hypoxia and/or oxidative stress (the former because FA oxidation is slow).
-> exercise is probably the number one “anti-aging” agent (good for everything but cognitive health in particular)
-> exercise & ketones -> +brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
^^^I rather like BDNF and humbly suggest this may lean toward ketones being more “preferred”
Coconut oil may be helpful in this context.
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