Dr. Oz: Low-carb ketogenic diet spurs fast weight loss, prevents Alzheimer's - Examiner.com

Dr. Oz said a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic-style diet ^[1] accelerates weight loss and can prevent diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes, and ADHD.

On the Dec. 24 episode ^[2] of the Dr. Oz Show, he discussed the health benefits of a low-carb diet with neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter.

Perlmutter, author of "Grain Brain," said a high-carb, grain-heavy diet destroys the brain and fuels Alzheimer's disease and other neurological illnesses.

"Carbs are devastating for the brain," he told Dr. Oz. "The brain thrives on a fat-rich, low-carbohydrate diet. Fat is your friend."

Perlmutter, a proponent of the low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet, told Dr. Oz that drastically reducing carbs not only promotes rapid weight loss, but can prevent or reverse brain conditions like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ADHD.

Research has also shown that a low-carb ketogenic diet dramatically reduces seizures in children ^[3] with epilepsy and can reverse diabetes.

And obesity expert Dr. Eric Westman said a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet produces rapid weight loss ^[4] without exercise or calorie-counting. Cancer researcher Dr. Dominic D'Agostino recently said a ketogenic diet starves cancer ^[5] cells.

Dr. Perlmutter, a neurologist, told Dr. Oz that a grain-heavy, high-carb diet causes neurological breakdown. Perlmutter says we can ward off — and in some instances reverse — Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and ADHD by following a low-carb high-fat diet. According to Perlmutter, a high-carb diet causes inflammation, which has a catastrophic effect on brain cells, as well as the entire body.

But after speaking with Perlmutter, Dr. Oz agreed that consuming plenty of healthy fats (such as olive oil, avocado, nuts and salmon) and limiting processed carbs can prevent and repair neurological damage.

Dr. Perlmutter recommends a low-carb diet — limiting carbs to no more than 80 grams a day — and eating lots of dietary fats, such as extra-virgin olive oil, avocado, grass-fed butter, wild fish, grass-fed beef, coconut oil, nuts. "The fate of your brain is not in your genes; it's in the food you eat," he said.