Low Carb & Brain Health

[2kellen2]

Hi - Please help - I read somewhere that a low carb diet is not good for brain health - it starves the brain. Carbs are brain food - The brain needs 130g of carbs a day to be healthy & as low carb diets are less than that & Atkins say 20g a day this is a worry to me. I am doing my best to be as healthy as possible & I am enjoying low carb & it is the best thing I have done for myself. Googling information is just contradictions so does anyone know of a reliable site I can get information about this.

[Sherrie]

I am feeling sick today so my heads like mush but have you looked at the low carb research page I made to see if there's anything there?

The brain does need some glucose but it also loves ketones (think of epilepsy) and it doesn't need 130g of carbs per day imo. It should be able to get the small amounts of glucose it needs from protein.

I am no expert and everybody is different and vulnerable to different things, you may find low carb could help dementia like it can with other brain disorders then there may be others where the opposite applies. But then look at all of the negative effects of carbs, to think they can't have a negative effect on the brain would be silly also. For some, it won't be a case of carbs or no carbs but rather food chemicals such as salicylates.

[2kellen2]

Thank you Sherrie for your quick response I hope you are better now. I have checked on the research pages & the positives of low carb outweigh the negatives.