Intermittent fasting attenuates increases in neurogenesis after ischemia and reperfusion and improves recovery

What exactly will it take for your doctor to use this to create a stroke protocol? Or are they the stick in the mud type? What is the downside of doing this right now? You could just ask your patients if they are willing to try some neurogenesis possibilities that have only been tested in mice.  It might save/create neurons, isn't that worth trying?
http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/jcbfm201436a.html

Silvia Manzanero, Joanna R Erion, Tomislav Santro, Frederik J Steyn, Chen Chen, Thiruma V Arumugam and Alexis M Stranahan

Abstract

Intermittent fasting (IF) is neuroprotective across a range of insults, but the question of whether extending the interval between meals alters neurogenesis after ischemia remains unexplored. We therefore measured cell proliferation, cell death, and neurogenesis after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) or sham surgery (SHAM) in mice fed ad libitum (AL) or maintained on IF for 3 months. IF was associated with twofold reductions in circulating levels of the adipocyte cytokine leptin in intact mice, but also prevented further reductions in leptin after MCAO. IF/MCAO mice also exhibit infarct volumes that were less than half those of AL/MCAO mice. We observed a 30% increase in basal cell proliferation in the hippocampus and subventricular zone (SVZ) in IF/SHAM, relative to AL/SHAM mice. However, cell proliferation after MCAO was limited in IF mice, which showed twofold increases in cell proliferation relative to IF/SHAM, whereas AL/MCAO mice exhibit fivefold increases relative to AL/SHAM. Attenuation of stroke-induced neurogenesis was correlated with reductions in cell death, with AL/MCAO mice exhibiting twice the number of dying cells relative to IF/MCAO mice. These observations indicate that IF protects against neurological damage in ischemic stroke, with circulating leptin as one possible mediator.

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