by Carla Murez
Health Day Reporter
THURSDAY, Jan. 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Six minutes of high-intensity exercise may extend the lifespan of a healthy brain, perhaps delaying Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, a new small study suggests onset.
Researchers have found that short but intense cycling increases the production of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is critical for brain formation, learning and memory. It is thought that BDNF may protect the brain from age-related mental decline.
“BDNF has shown great promise in animal models, but so far, pharmacological interventions have failed to safely harness the protective capabilities of BDNF in humans,” said lead study author Travis Gibbons from the University of Otago in New Zealand.
“We saw the need to explore non-pharmacological ways to preserve brain volume, an ability that humans could use to naturally increase BDNF to aid in healthy aging,” Gibbons said.
The report was published on January 11 in Journal of Physiology.
BDNF promotes the brain’s ability to form new connections and pathways, and also helps neurons survive. Animal studies have shown that increasing the availability of BDNF improves cognitive abilities such as thinking, reasoning or memory.
In this study, the researchers wanted to understand the effects of fasting and exercise on BDNF production in humans.
The researchers compared fasting, 90 minutes of low-intensity cycling, 6 minutes of high-intensity cycling, and a combination of fasting and exercise with a dozen men and women.
Short but intense exercise was the most effective way to increase BDNF compared to a day of fasting with or without prolonged periods of low-intensity exercise, the researchers said.
There was a 4- to 5-fold increase in BDNF compared to fasting, which showed either no change in BDNF, or prolonged activity (showing a slight increase in BDNF).
The study authors note that more work is needed to better understand the findings.
The researchers hypothesize that the brain switches its preferred fuel source to another to meet the body’s energy needs. This could mean metabolizing lactate instead of glucose during exercise, which could turn on pathways that lead to more BDNF in the blood.
The increase in BDNF may be due to increased numbers of platelets, which store large amounts of BDNF. This, they explain, was more influenced by exercise than fasting.
Ongoing research will further examine the effects of calorie restriction and exercise.
“We are now investigating how longer fasts, such as up to three days, affect BDNF,” Gibbons said in a journal news release. “We were curious whether performing vigorous exercise at the start of fasting would accelerate the beneficial effects of fasting. Fasting and exercise have rarely been studied together. We think fasting and exercise could be used in combination to optimize BDNF production in the human brain.”
More information
The US National Library of Medicine has more information on BDNF.
source: Journal of Physiology, Press Release, January 11, 2023
