The ketogenic diet is a low-carbohydrate, adequate-protein, and high-fat diet with a long history of use for the treatment of intractable seizures in children. This dietary therapy has been enjoying increasing popularity in recent years, despite the availability of increasing numbers of new antiepileptic drugs and surgical treatments. The authors review the history of the […]
This chapter explores the evidence supporting inflammation-associated depression. Data to date suggest a bidirectional relationship between inflammation and depression wherein one process can drive the other. A wealth of animal and clinical studies have demonstrated an association between concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines – specifically interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α – and depressive symptoms. […]
Multiple lines of evidence support the pathogenic role of neuroinflammation in psychiatric illness. While systemic autoimmune diseases are well-documented causes of neuropsychiatric disorders, synaptic autoimmune encephalitides with psychotic symptoms often go under-recognized. Parallel to the link between psychiatric symptoms and autoimmunity in autoimmune diseases, neuroimmunological abnormalities occur in classical psychiatric disorders (for example, major depressive, […]
The Cannabis plant contains more than 100 currently known phytocannabinoids. Regarding the rising consumption of the non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) in people’s everyday life (e.g., beauty products, food and beverages), the importance of studies on the influence of CBD on healthy humans and rodents is evident. Therefore, the behavioral profile of CBD was investigated with […]
Insulin is a major driver of obesity. But what drives insulin? In some cases, certain foods drive the increase in insulin. But there are clearly some time dependent factors about obesity that are unaccounted for. What am I talking about?
Dr. Lustig specializes in the field of neuroendocrinology, with an emphasis on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system. His research and clinical practice has focused on childhood obesity and diabetes. Dr. Lustig holds a Bachelor’s in Science from MIT, a Doctorate in Medicine from Cornell University Medical College, and a Master’s […]
The prevalence of diabetes rapidly increased during the last decades in association with important changes in lifestyle. Diabetes and hyperglycemia are well-known for inducing deleterious effects on physiologic processes, increasing for instance cardiovascular diseases, nephropathy, retinopathy and foot ulceration. Interestingly, diabetes also impairs brain morphology and functions such as decreased neurogenesis (proliferation, differentiation and cell […]
Paul Alan Cox is a Harvard Ph.D. who has searched for new medicines from plants used by traditional healers in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. For these efforts TIME magazine named him one of 11 “Heroes of Medicine.” His efforts in preserving island rain forests were recognized with the Goldman Environmental Prize.
Brain insulin resistance is a well-recognized abnormality in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the likely mediator of impaired glucose utilization that emerges early and progresses with disease severity. Moreover, the rates of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or AD are significantly greater in people with diabetes mellitus or obesity. Objective:This study was designed to determine whether systemic […]
Lower brain glucose metabolism is present before the onset of clinically measurable cognitive decline in two groups of people at risk of Alzheimer’s disease–carriers of apolipoprotein E4, and in those with a maternal family history of AD. Supported by emerging evidence from in vitro and animal studies, these reports suggest that brain hypometabolism may precede […]