{"id":244954,"date":"2025-07-07T09:52:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T09:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/244954\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T09:52:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T09:52:16","slug":"study-finds-surprising-links-between-regular-exercise-your-liver-and-brain-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/244954\/","title":{"rendered":"Study finds surprising links between regular exercise, your liver and brain health"},"content":{"rendered":"

When thinking about the benefits of exercise<\/a>, most people picture stronger muscles, a healthier heart, or weight loss. But there’s another powerful benefit you might not see \u2014 a sharper mind. New research shows that regular endurance exercise doesn\u2019t just help your body; it also protects your brain, even when one of the brain’s most important fuel sources is missing.<\/p>\n

The Link Between Liver, Ketones, and Brain Power<\/p>\n

Your brain needs a lot of energy to function well. Most of that energy comes from glucose \u2014 a type of sugar. But when glucose runs low, especially during long periods without food or intense exercise, the liver steps in. It makes molecules called ketones, which act as a backup fuel for your brain.<\/p>\n

These ketones do more than just power neurons. They also help with learning, memory, and overall brain health. So what happens if your liver can\u2019t make enough ketones? That\u2019s the question researchers from the University of Missouri Columbia<\/a> set out to answer \u2014 and the results surprised them.<\/p>\n

When the body runs low on its usual fuel \u2014 glucose \u2014 the liver makes ketones, an alternative energy source that helps power the brain. (CREDIT: Unsplash) <\/p>\n

In the study, scientists blocked the production of ketones in healthy young female rats. They did this by reducing a liver enzyme<\/a> called HMGCS2. This enzyme starts the process of making ketones. Then, the rats either performed a single session of running or trained on a treadmill five days a week for four weeks.<\/p>\n

Ketone Deficiency Harms Brain Function<\/p>\n

The rats with lower levels of the HMGCS2 enzyme couldn\u2019t produce enough ketones after exercise. As a result, the level of ketones in their blood stayed low, even after working out.<\/p>\n

This lack of ketones had a big effect on the brain. After just one exercise session, the frontal cortex \u2014 the area responsible for decision-making and memory<\/a> \u2014 showed fewer signs of healthy mitochondrial activity. Mitochondria are like power plants in cells. When they don\u2019t work well, cells lose energy and begin to struggle.<\/p>\n

In the rats with impaired ketone production, researchers also saw a sharp drop in how well their brain mitochondria worked. After chronic exercise, the brain\u2019s ability to generate energy dropped by more than half in some cases.<\/p>\n

But energy problems weren\u2019t the only issue. The rats also performed worse on memory tests. Their spatial memory \u2014 the ability to remember and navigate places \u2014 was weaker. Proteins tied to synaptic plasticity, the brain\u2019s way of learning and adapting, were also lower.<\/p>\n

Exercise Still Protects the Brain<\/p>\n

Then came the surprise. Even though the rats couldn\u2019t make enough ketones, the ones that exercised regularly still had better brain function<\/a> than those that didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Scott Rector and Taylor Kelty work in the NextGen Precision Health building. (CREDIT: Ben Stewart) <\/p>\n

Exercise seemed to make up for the missing ketones. Rats that ran on the treadmill for four weeks showed stronger memory and more signs of brain plasticity. Their mitochondrial function also improved, despite the liver\u2019s inability to create enough ketones.<\/p>\n

The scientists expected that without ketones, exercise would fail to help. But instead, they found that exercise had enough brain-boosting effects on its own to overcome the ketone shortage.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into the study, we thought that with fewer ketones and the cognitive impairments that causes, exercise may not be able to overcome that impairment,\u201d said postdoctoral fellow Taylor Kelty. \u201cBut it seems like exercise is so powerful that there are other mechanisms going on in the brain that allow it to circumvent those impairments and still receive the benefits from exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Closer Look at the Liver-Brain Connection<\/p>\n

This research highlights how deeply connected your body\u2019s systems are. Even though the liver and the brain are far apart, what happens in one can strongly affect the other. If the liver can\u2019t do its job properly \u2014 like producing ketones \u2014 the brain can suffer. That connection matters even more when you consider conditions that damage the liver. People with severe liver disease often struggle with memory and thinking. This new study may help explain why.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf ketone production in the liver is disrupted, it could be a potential cause of cognitive decline, ultimately leading to conditions like dementia<\/a>,\u201d Kelty said. This emerging field \u2014 often called liver-brain research \u2014 is gaining attention. It shows how liver problems could raise the risk of disorders like Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the number of Americans expected to develop Alzheimer\u2019s more than doubling by 2060, understanding the liver\u2019s role in brain health could lead to new ways to prevent memory loss.<\/p>\n

Even when liver ketone production drops, regular endurance exercise restores brain energy, boosts memory, and supports cognitive health. (CREDIT: Taylor Kelty, et al.) Exercise as a Tool for Brain Health<\/p>\n

So, what does all this mean for you? First, it confirms what many experts have believed: regular physical activity helps your brain. But now, researchers understand more about how that happens.<\/p>\n

Even when the liver can\u2019t produce enough ketones, exercise still improves brain power. That means physical activity<\/a> works through more than one path. It doesn\u2019t rely on a single chemical or molecule. Instead, exercise triggers a range of helpful changes \u2014 from better blood flow to increased brain cell repair.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis study highlights how exercise benefits the body in a multitude of ways, even when we don\u2019t fully understand all the molecular mechanisms involved,\u201d said Professor R. Scott Rector, who co-led the research. \u201cEven when we remove a single pathway, exercise is doing so many other things that it can help mitigate those deficiencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research is also good news for people with liver conditions. While liver disease can reduce ketone levels and possibly lead to memory problems, exercise may help protect the brain even when the liver can\u2019t. <\/p>\n

Schematic of ketogenesis and ketolysis pathway and keyenzymes involved. (CREDIT: Taylor Kelty, et al.) <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much we\u2019re still uncovering, and with all the state-of-the-art resources and interdisciplinary collaborations at Mizzou, it\u2019s exciting to think about where this research might take us next,\u201d Kelty added. \u201cExercise could be a key piece of the puzzle in preserving brain health as we age.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Future of Brain Health Research<\/p>\n

The researchers hope their work will guide future studies that explore how liver problems affect the brain and how exercise might help people stay mentally sharp into old age. Rector, who has spent more than 20 years doing research, said the support from his university and other organizations has made studies like this one possible. \u201cWe hope our work will ultimately help a lot of people in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As science uncovers more about how different parts of the body influence brain health, one message is already clear: if you want to keep your mind strong, keep moving. Regular endurance exercise could be one of the best tools you have \u2014 even when the odds are stacked against you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When thinking about the benefits of exercise, most people picture stronger muscles, a healthier heart, or weight loss.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4322],"tags":[1630,105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-244954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114811341672029561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}