The brain does not gradually age: its deterioration begins before what we think and suddenly

A new study suggests that the human brain Does not gradually age and linearbut it occurs A sudden aging In different periods of life. The research, whose results have been published in the “Pnas” scientific journal, is based on an analysis of the data of the brain images of over 19,300 people between 18 and 90 years old.

When they explain the results, the researchers write: “The brain networks not only become unstable for life, but these changes have a non -linear trend and, approximately, from the fourth decade of life, coherent signs of brain aging appear”. According to them, the human brain experiences A rapid aging process around 44 yearsAlready 67, the process becomes more intense, but finally about 90 years, aging is stabilized.

Lack of energy in brain cells after 40 years

Previously, some investigations had suggested to which the aging process could be related A decrease in the necessary energy transmit neuronal messages into the brain. The new results suggest that this drop in energy begins about 40 years and is probably associated insulin resistance.

After this age, brain cells continue to work, but they need higher insulin levels to Adjust blood sugar. “For this reason, the alternative fuel offer during this delicate period could help improve brain function,” says Professor Mojica Parodi, the main supervisor of the study and professor at the University of Stony Brook.

This fuel can be supplied through ketoni, which have been introduced in this study as a possible protective agent. Stony Brook University states that ketones are A type of brain fuel that neurons can consume without insulin.

Hope for a cure for Alzheimer’s

In one of the experiments conducted in the same study, the researchers examined the effect of ketones with respect to glucose. The results show that the ketones They managed to stabilize degraded brain networks. These results could lay the foundations for new approaches to prevent cognitive deterioration caused by an increase in age, as well as diseases that damage brain cells, Like that of Alzheimer.

“It is a fundamental change in our approach to Prevent brain aging“, Says Botvand Antal, the main researcher of the study. Instead of waiting for the symptoms of cognitive deterioration, we can identify people at risk through neurometabolic markers and intervene during the same delicate period,” he says.