This video talks about the ketogenic diet, explaining what it is and its long history as a therapeutic tool. It highlights how the diet works by producing ketones for energy, which helps reduce inflammation in the body. The presenter discusses several conditions that may benefit from a ketogenic diet, including epilepsy, diabetes, cancer, migraines, psoriasis, obesity, multiple sclerosis, and other brain diseases. The video also touches on modern research and alternative ways to get similar benefits.
Key Takeaways
1
A ketogenic diet is a low-carbohydrate diet, typically less than 50 grams per day, where calories come from protein or fat, including fibrous vegetables, low-sugar fruits, fish, poultry, cheese, meat, and quality fats like olive oil and avocados.
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The ketogenic diet works by breaking down fatty acids to produce ketones, specifically beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), which is associated with reducing many inflammatory pathways in the body.
3
The use of a ketogenic diet for epilepsy dates back to ancient times and gained modern recognition in the 1920s and again in the 1990s after a film producer used it to treat his son's severe epilepsy.
4
Research suggests that the ketogenic diet's benefits for epilepsy are not just from providing an alternative energy source, but also through mechanisms like enhancing ketosis with medium-chain triglycerides and promoting autophagy, which cleans up damaged cells and reduces inflammation.
5
For diabetes, a low-calorie ketogenic diet has shown a better and more sustained reduction in blood sugar levels compared to a standard low-calorie diet, with benefits improving over time.
6
The ketogenic diet is being researched for cancer treatment based on Otto Warburg's theory that cancer is a metabolic disease with damaged cellular respiration, as cancer cells primarily use glucose for energy and cannot metabolize ketones.
7
The ketogenic diet shows promise in treating migraines by enhancing mitochondrial metabolism and the anti-inflammatory effects of beta-hydroxybutyrate.
8
Beyond epilepsy, diabetes, and cancer, the ketogenic diet has demonstrated therapeutic potential for conditions such as psoriasis, obesity (by suppressing appetite and enhancing endurance), multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, and other neurodegenerative diseases by improving brain energy and reducing oxidative stress.
9
Alternative strategies to a strict long-term ketogenic diet, such as using medium-chain triglycerides, intermittent ketogenic dieting, intermittent fasting, carnitine, hydroxy citric acid, and exercise, can also enhance metabolic function.
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this is a brief presentation on the
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history and current research on the
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therapeutic applications of the
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ketogenic diet what is a ketogenic diet
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it's basically just a low carbohydrate
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diet consisting of less than 50 grams of
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carbohydrate per day that individual
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carbohydrate can vary depending on
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muscle mass activity and metabolism
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calories have to come from somewhere so
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the diet can be high protein or high fat
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I'm a names for variations of this diet
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usually had the name Atkins in it after
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dr. Robert Atkins of the 1970s the diet
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is mostly exclusive of grains and is
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comprised of fibrous vegetables low
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sugar fruits such as berries melons and
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grapefruit the proteins can come from
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fish poultry cheese and meat quality
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fats come from extra-virgin olive oil
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nuts avocados and nut oils ketogenic
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diet produces ketones by the breakdown
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of fatty acids for energy beta hydroxy
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butyrate abbreviated B H B is the ketone
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generated by the enzyme beta hydroxy
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butyrate dehydrogenase BHB is associated
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with the reduction of many of the body's
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biochemical inflammatory pathways such
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as NF kappa-b nlrp3 inflammasome mTOR
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and others ketogenic diet has shown
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benefits in all of the conditions you
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see on the left-hand column starting
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with epilepsy history of the modern
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ketogenic diet goes back at least to the
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5th century BC when Hippocrates
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described how alterations in the diet
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played a role in epilepsy management in
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quotations from the Bible Jesus cured an
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epileptic boy saying excuse me for
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taking literary license this could only
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have been treated otherwise through
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prayer and fasting modern history of the
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ketogenic diet as treatment for epilepsy
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starts with an osteopathic physician
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Conklin who influenced the New York
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physician Galen who then went on to
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present to the American Medical
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Association in the 1920s telling of his
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successful treatment of epilepsy by
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program of diet and fasting his program
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was widely used until the advent of
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successful pharmaceutical treatment fast
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forward to the 1990s the diet once again
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became well-known when producer of the
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popular movie airplane Jim Abraham's who
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had a son with severe epilepsy the child
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had been unsuccessfully treated with
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common therapies including multiple
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surgeries multiple medications with that
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with no avail the Abraham's out of
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desperation successfully began using the
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ketogenic diet on their son Charlie and
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later produced a movie starring Meryl
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Streep entitled first do no harm there
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was also a Dateline TV program that
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interviewed the Abraham's with their son
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Charlie this media attention to the old
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diet spurred renewed interest in the
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ketogenic diet for epilepsy the
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Abraham's have gone on to form the
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Charlie foundation that continues to
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fund research and yearly conferences
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support continues to grow in spite of
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the fact that lacks pharmaceutical
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funding and support initially the
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thought was the diet worked by providing
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ketones as an alternative energy for the
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brain instead of the brain burning
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glucose by reducing carbohydrate intake
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the body was forced to burn ketones for
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metabolic energy however after being
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weaned off the diet seizures did not
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return so it became obvious the benefit
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was not solely because of the alternate
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energy source today other compounds are
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used to enhance ketosis and
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beta-hydroxybutyrate including the
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addition of medium chain triglycerides
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including coconut oil caprylic acid also
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known as actinic acid or c8 or capric
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acid also known as decanoic acid or c10
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in a study by whites in 2015
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entitled acute anticonvulsant effects of
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capric acid in seizure tests in mice he
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documents raising the seizure threshold
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with the use of medium chain
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triglycerides also Bjarne in 2015
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published autophagy and amino acid
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metabolism
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in the brain implications for epilepsy
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autophagy is the body's way of cleaning
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up damaged material in the body so
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understanding the contribution of
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autophagy and brain physiology and
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pathology emphasizes why proper control
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of glutamate and GABA in the brain is
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due to its role as transmitters and
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energy source
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when autophagy doesn't work it can
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result in pathological consequences
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related to signaling and metabolic
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pathways controlling both autophagy and
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amino acid metabolism in the brain so
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proper functioning of autophagy cleans
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up diseased and mouth malfunctioning
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mitochondria so there are fewer damaged
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and disarrayed cells this leads to less
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inflammation and optimizes biological
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function including less igf-1 mTOR NF
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kappa-b
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& nlrp3 inflammasome autophagy is
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promoted by the ketogenic diet exercise
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and fasting diabetes and the ketogenic
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diet was made very popular by Robert
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Atkins in this study by Fineman you see
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that using a low-calorie diet does
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reduce the blood sugar but at about 12
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weeks it levels off then in the blue
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dots below you see the low calorie
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ketogenic diet has much better response
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in blood sugar and then at the 12th week
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it does not level off it continues
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towards normal illustrating that the
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benefits improve over time
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suggesting there are other mechanisms at
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work this is also mirrored in the chart
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on the right cancer is a fascinating
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area of application and shows great
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promise this is not a new approach using
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the ketogenic diet Otto Warburg back in
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the 1920s and 30s suggested that cancer
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was more of a metabolic disease rather
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than the Common Era approach that it is
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a genetic problem he felt
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that it was a metabolic disease with
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defects in the nucleus and mitochondria
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mitochondria actually suppress
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tumorigenesis and genetic mutations so
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that's not the driver of the disease as
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you see in the slide the four concepts
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that Warburg proposes is that cancer
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arises from damage to cellular
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respiration tumor cells do not use
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oxygen they use glucose and the waste
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product is lactic acid and this in the
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presence of oxygen is the Warburg effect
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as there is problem to cellular
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respiration the body compensates and the
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glucose and the amino acid glutamine
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ferment gradually compensating for
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insufficient respiration in a cancer
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cells number three this respiration
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damage eventually becomes irreversible
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and then the cancer cells continue to
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ferment in the presence of oxygen so
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cancer cells have damaged oxidative
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respiration and this compensatory energy
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source comes through the fermentation
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there are many researchers today that
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are doing research on the ketogenic diet
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and cancer Seyfried Janssen and
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frightening er independently are doing
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research on cancer in the ketogenic diet
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they all use a ketogenic calorie
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restricted diet that is rich in
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nutrition but by reducing the blood
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sugar an increase in the beta hydroxy
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butyrate that becomes the main energy
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source since cancer cells cannot
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metabolize ketones they eventually
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become weaker and weaker Seyfried says
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calorie restriction and the ketogenic
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diet reduces circulating glucose levels
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elevates ketone levels and it's an anti
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invasive anti-angiogenic and pro apt
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otic with a beneficial effect with
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malignant brain cancer down regulates
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inflammatory compounds the size of the
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suit tumors are reduced levels of igf-1
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go down with corresponding signaling
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cascade and inflammatory cytokines
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reduced NF kappa-b inflammatory t-cells
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mTOR hif-1 alpha utilizing the ketogenic
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diet in migraines is another area
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of therapeutic application dilorenzo
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published an article in 2015 entitled
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migraine improvement after short lasting
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ketosis proof of concept theory he
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proposes that the improvement is related
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to the ability of the mitochondria to
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enhance their metabolism and also the
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beta-hydroxybutyrate counteracting
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neural inflammation psoriasis it's a
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highly inflammatory condition the study
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by cast aldo found that a low-calorie
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carbohydrate free or ketogenic diet
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brought about rapid resolution to
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psoriatic problems ketogenic diet and
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obesity is not new Robert Atkins made
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famous the Atkins diet so we're not
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really going to talk about that here but
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what is interesting in the first study
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you see here the ketogenic diet not only
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was good for weight loss but in a weight
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loss program it also found that
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performance levels improved in the
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second one we see how ketogenic diet
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actually suppresses the appetite so that
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is very beneficial for people trying to
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lose weight if their appetite is reduced
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and their endurance is enhanced multiple
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sclerosis is another area that the
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ketogenic diet has shown promise store
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oni in 2015 found that the ketogenic
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diet reduced the generation of reactive
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oxygen species increased levels of the
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antioxidants and the net overall effect
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was more energy in the brain in fact
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mice fed a ketogenic diet for three
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weeks resulted in great increases in ATP
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and the ATP to adp ratio in the brain
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other neurodegenerative diseases have
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also shown benefit and also in neuro
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development so in hertz 2015 the use of
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ketone bodies in Alzheimer's treatment
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was very beneficial we know that at
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least a decade before there are symptoms
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there is hypo glucose metabolism in the
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brain depriving it of nutrients
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affecting beta amyloid toxicity and
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Astro
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function so by using low-level ketones
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there have been shown to be some
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benefits a very common currently a
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common practice is to use coconut oil to
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enhance the brain function Zhang in a
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rat model found pathways of
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neuroprotection to be very significant
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Sussman actually Indian neuro
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development has some interesting points
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that he has done Studies on rats in a
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gestational ketogenic diet he found that
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there were changes in behavior and in
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brain structure in the offspring less
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depression and less anxiety in the
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offspring also the brain structure
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hypothalamus and cerebellum were changed
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and also total brain volume was
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increased Hargrave found that with the
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Western diet there were learning and
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memory deficits with impaired gluten and
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the ketogenic diet
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there was enhancement of memory and
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learning
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there are many mechanisms of benefits
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including hif-1 and cert 1 inflammatory
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pathways are decreased including mTOR
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igf-1 NF kappa-b nlrp3 inflammasome and
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others there is also up regulation in
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autophagy of damaged mitochondria and
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reduce oxidative stress compounds that
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have shown to pass the blood-brain
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barrier and improve metabolic function
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it's the medicine metformin commonly
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used for type 2 diabetes and also
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product called berberine that has
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sources such as the herb goldenseal and
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oregon grapefruit nicotinamide rai
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beside is another one that enhances
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metabolism alternative strategies to
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just following the ketogenic diet is
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using medium chain triglycerides like
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the coconut oil caprylic acid or capric
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acid it doesn't need to be a long term
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ketogenic diet but even intermittent
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ketogenic diet or intermittent fasting
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has been used as well the use of
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carnitine and hydroxy citric and also
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exercise
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seem to be alternative strategies for
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the ketogenic diet
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there are many therapeutic applications
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of a ketogenic diet more studies need to
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be performed but support is gaining
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Therapeutic Applications of a Ketogenic Diet
Deb Ford DCN RDN
361 views
Apr 20, 2016
13:34
This recording was done as part of my doctoral program at the Maryland University of Integrative Health.