could a ketogenic diet slow the progression of als?
dr. chantelle sephton and her team have found that mice with als respond well to a ketogenic diet thats low in carbohydrates and high in fats.
2 minute read
dr. chantelle sephton is an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and neurosciences at l’université laval and affiliated with the cervo brain research center. she also sits on the board of als society of canada, a longstanding partner to brain canada.
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“increase your caloric intake.”
this is the number one recommendation that a clinician will make to a person recently diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (als), a neurodegenerative disease affecting nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control. a high calorie diet is linked to better outcomes for als patients, but the question is, why? and what is the optimum diet to slow progression of the disease?
dr. chantelle sephton and her research team are seeking answers to these questions in mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells. mitochondrial health is severely affected in people with als and in animal models of the disease.
dr. sephton and her team are studying the impact of a ketogenic diet low in carbohydrates and high in fats on mitochondria in the brains and spinal cords of mice with als. their preliminary findings indicate that mice with als respond positively to a ketogenic diet, possibly because of restored mitochondrial activity.
she is now working to better understand the mechanism behind this finding in the lab and exploring the possibility of a translational study to test the findings in the clinic. dr. sephton is an active member of the scientific als community and local als community in quebec, and in summer 2023, she extended her role to include advocacy work as a member of the als society of canada board of directors.
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what’s the impact?
the unfortunate reality is that most individuals with als die within 2 to 5 years after diagnosis. the idea of using diet to slow the progression of als – specifically dr. sephton’s finding that a ketogenic diet restores energy balance in a mouse model of the disease – is a promising proof of concept that brings hope for altering the outlook after diagnosis.
this concept of switching a diet and restoring mitochondrial number is not only new to the als field, but also to our understanding of what a diet can do as a therapeutic approach.
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