Jakob Norgren

I completed my PhD in 2023 with Prof. Miia Kivipelto as my principal supervisor. The thesis is titled "The Impact of Macronutritional Composition and Ketosis on Cognitive Health: From Normal Aging to Alzheimer's Disease" and it can be downloaded here: http://hdl.handle.net/10616/48662

Alongside my doctoral project, I had a leading role in the conceptualization and planning of a clinical trial that started 2023 at the Karolinska University Hospital: "COGNIFOOD—Investigating the therapeutic potential of changing the dietary carbohydrate/fat-ratio to prevent cognitive decline and Alzheimer pathology: A pilot study". The trial is founded by the af Jochnick foundation via FINGERS Brain Health Institute and data for analysis is expected in 2025–2026. More info: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06105320

Since January 2024 I'm employed as a postdoc in Prof. Maria Eriksdotters group, working in a project on drug repurposing for the prevention and treatment of dementia.  Statins are of particular interest in our project, which is led by Sara Garcia Ptacek. Thanks to a grant from The Swedish Alzheimer Foundation (Alzheimerfonden), I have also been able to initiate my own project: "Optimizing dietary recommendations for Alzheimer prevention: Investigating a possible mismatch between official dietary guidelines and APOE4-specific food adaptation."

It's well established that lifestyle affects the risk for chronic disease, but more detailed knowledge is warranted to guide prevention strategies. In my doctoral project I investigated the impact of nutrition on cognitive health in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease. I'm especially interested in macronutritional composition and the impact of the metabolic state ketosis. My project included the planning and analysis of the clinical trial "Coffee & Cream" where we investigated the ketogenic effect of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) and coconut oil in combination with time-restricted carbohydrate intake. Some promising pilot trials on ketogenic diets for the promotion of brain health has led to an increased interest for this area of research. However, it's unclear how important ketosis is for mediating potential health effects of strict carbohydrate restriction. Results from my doctoral project suggest that even moderate changes in the carbohydrate/fat-ratio may impact cognitive function among older persons at risk for dementia. My current aim is to replicate those findings in data from other observational studies. The research question will also be addressed in an upcoming intervention study.

I'm interested in gene-diet interactions and particularly the role of  apolipoprotein E (APOE), which is related to both dementia risk and the metabolism of macronutrients. Increased knowledge regarding such interactions may lead to more individualized diet recommendations in the future. Additionally, I'm interested in the development of improved methods for nutritional epidemiology, based on theories for compositional data analysis and causal inference.

Since dietary factors affect similar biomarkers as statins and diabetes drugs, I find it fruitful to study the effect of such drugs on cognitive health outcomes in parallel with diet research.