How a bean and meat cocktail could reverse brain damage

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated:

neurology researcher

Scientists believe a cocktail of amino acids could help the recovery of patients with brain injuries

Drinks containing a cocktail of proteins found in beans, nuts and meat could help people recover from head injuries more quickly, a study suggests.

Scientists fed a mixture of amino acids to brain-damaged mice.

The drinks restored the right balance of chemicals in their brains which returned their learning capacity to normal levels.

Head researcher Dr Akiva Cohen, from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in the US, said if the results were reproduced in humans, patients with traumatic brain injuries could be given the amino acids in a drink.

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins - and beans, nuts and meat provide a good source.

The mice drank leucine, isoleucine and valine - known as branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) - in their water.

They are vital for the creation of two brain chemicals which play a key role in the function of nerves.

These neurotransmitters work together to keep brain activity in balance. Glutamate excites neurons, stimulating them to fire, while GABA inhibits them.

If neurons are too excited or not excited enough, the brain does not function properly.

This often occurs after a traumatic brain injury common in road accidents or on the battlefield.

Previous research had suggested that people with severe brain injuries showed improvements in their mental capabilities after being injected with BCAAs.

Scientists tested the effect of brain injuries on the ability of mice to remember an electric shock.

A week after receiving a mild shock in a recognisable cage, normal mice tend to 'freeze' when placed in the same surroundings.

This is a fear response showing that they anticipate another shock after remembering what happened the first time they were in the cage.

Brain-injured mice demonstrated fewer freezing responses, a sign that their learning was impaired.

But when they were given water containing the amino acid cocktail, their performance in the test was the same as that of normal mice.

The findings were published online today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr Cohen said: 'We have shown in an animal model that dietary intervention can restore a proper balance of neurochemicals in the injured part of the brain, and simultaneously improves cognitive performance.'

Examination of slices of tissue from the hippocampus - the brain's memory centre - showed that BCAA restored the normal balance of neural activity in injured mice.

Providing BCAAs in the diet may prove more effective than injecting them, Dr Cohen said.

A large dose injected straight into the bloodstream could flood the brain and have a more limited effect.

Most watched News videos