Intermittent fasting eased thinking problems in diabetic mice
Experiments suggested that a fasting-responsive hormone contributed to the benefits, which weakened in mice lacking that hormone.
Limit: Only eight mice per group underwent the spatial learning test
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In mice with chemically induced type 1 diabetes and cognitive impairment—problems with thinking—researchers tested intermittent fasting in an animal experiment. They also studied mice lacking fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), a hormone that responds to fasting, and tested giving extra FGF21.
Fasting raised FGF21 levels in blood and the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory, and improved cognitive performance. These effects were weaker in mice lacking FGF21. Giving FGF21 improved cognitive performance and reduced nerve-cell damage. It also partly restored levels of two types of fats in the hippocampus and improved the function of mitochondria, the cells’ energy-producing structures. The authors suggested that FGF21 contributed to fasting’s protective effects, potentially through coordinated regulation of fat metabolism and mitochondrial function.
Why it matters
Diabetes-associated cognitive impairment is a neurological complication whose metabolic mechanisms remain unclear. This work addressed how changes in fat metabolism and cellular energy function might contribute to it.
Caveats
These experiments used mice with chemically induced type 1 diabetes. They do not show whether the same benefits occur in people or in type 2 diabetes.
The paper
Wenzhou Medical University
Antioxidants, Oct 28, 2026, Open access, CC BY
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