Researchers at Tufts University in Massachusetts released results this month that might interest you. So let me see if I can walk you through their study. Their study seemed to have a really small sample size - only 19 women. The women had the same body-mass index (BMI). Another "flaw" - the study was only measured over 3 weeks.
About half the women went on a week of no-carb, the other half on low-carb. They found that the no-carb group performed worse on short-term memory tests (such as remembering number sequences). Reaction time also worsened. But introducing even 5 grams of carbs a day reversed the decline.
Here's the explanation...
The brain uses glucose (sugar) as its main fuel. Since your body breaks carbohydrates into sugars like glucose, your brain won't get what it needs without carbs. That makes logical sense, but to be honest, I'm not sure this study "proves" it. What you want, if you are trying to go low carb, is to trigger ketosis (where your body burns fat for fuel). But don't cut out all carbs.
As an aside, a different but related study, published in Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2008 Aug. 28 (8):1556-62 was much better in terms of statistical validation (using 3673 male and female participants with mean ages between 55 and 61). They tested short-term memory via a 20-word list over a 5-yr period and found a correlation between HDL cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol) and memory. In particular, low HDL cholesterol is a risk factor for deficit and decline in memory in midlife.
Bottom Line: Low carb diets, especially in the initial stages where they are basically "no carb" diets, end up starving your brain. So the key is you need some carbs, even in a low-carb diet.
Trevor Ponder is the author of several books on improving human brain memory. Download a free ebook and get a 6-part memory course at trevorponder.com?ezine trevorponder.com?ezine .
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