Cognitive effects of low carb diets - long term?

[ginkgo]

I was reading this :
Low-carb diets affect cognition skills | Science Blog

"Although this study only tracked dieting participants for three weeks, the data suggest that diets can affect more than just weight," says Taylor. "The brain needs glucose for energy and diets low in carbohydrates can be detrimental to learning, memory, and thinking."

In essence it's says that low carb diets make you dumb or dumber?

Does anyone have an experience of being on a keto diet long term ( few months ) and their cognitive brain functions? I'm curious because I have a few months of hard studying to do for a hard test and I don't want to make things more difficult for myself.

 

[epoxy]

Hmm maybe thats why there are so many smart fat people, and I always used to ask myself "if they're so smart, why aren't they smart enough to watch what they eat?" guess they were one step ahead of me!

 

[coldblood303]

from what i understand, its the switch in and out of ketosis thats the problem. during the cut over from glucose to ketones, the brain may run low on fuel. this can cause some cognitive issues. so if you are low carb, but have a cheat day or w/e and come out of ketosis, that could be an issue. the study doesn't mention if the participants were tracked to see if they were in ketosis or not though.

 

[adidamps2]

3 weeks is not long enough...thats the problem with the test. The brain can function fine on ketones or glucose...but like it was said the body has to break the transitional zone. once down the fuzzy thoughts and lagging thinking go away, as do the head ache's.

 

[anne12]

Hello Friends........

1.Low carb (ketogenic) diets deplete the healthy glycogen (the storage form of glucose) stores in your muscles and liver.

2.Depletion of muscle glycogen causes you to fatigue easily, and makes exercise and movement uncomfortable.

3. Depletion of muscle glycogen leads to muscle atrophy (loss of muscle).

Thanks