Can Intermittent Fasting Help Heal Nerve Damage?
Intermittent fasting changes the gut bacteria activity of mice and increases their ability to recover from nerve damage. The new research is published in Nature and was conducted by Imperial College London researchers.
They observed how fasting led to the gut bacteria increasing production of a metabolite known as 3-Indolepropionic acid (IPA), which is required for regenerating nerve fibers called axons—thread-like structures at the ends of nerve cells that send out electro-chemical signals to other cells in the body.
This novel mechanism was discovered in mice and is hoped to also hold true for any future human trials. The team state that the bacteria that produces IPA, Clostridium sporogenesis, is found naturally in the guts of humans as well as mice and IPA is present in human’s bloodstreams too.
Excerpted from Neuroscience News
