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A low-protein diet could help slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Southern California found that putting mice with advanced Alzheimer's disease on a protein-restricted diet with added amino acids every other week helped slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

The study showed that mice put on the new diet showed improved cognitive abilities compared to their non-dieting peers in memory tests using mazes.  Furthermore, mice placed on a low-protein diet had significantly less neurons that contained abnormal levels of the "tau" protein, which accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer's patient.

While the latest study is on mice, researchers plan on studying whether humans will respond similarly.  Researchers also want to see the effects of a restricted protein diet on other diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiac disease.

Researchers explain that dietary protein is the major dietary regulator of a growth hormone known as IGF-1, which has been associated with aging and diseases in mice and several diseases in older adults.

While the hormone helps the body grow during youth, it is also associated to several disease later in life in both mice and humans.

"We had previously shown that humans deficient in Growth Hormone receptor and IGF-I displayed reduced incidence of cancer and diabetes. Although the new study is in mice, it raises the possibility that low protein intake and low IGF-I may also protect from age-dependent neurodegeneration," researcher Professor Valter Longo said in a news release.

The study found that a protein-restricted diet reduced levels of IGF-1 circulating through the body by up to 70 percent and caused an eight-fold increase in a protein that blocks IGF-1's effects by binding to it.

"Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of neurodegeneration are a major burden on society, and it is a rising priority for this nation to develop new approaches for preventing and treating these conditions, since the frequencies of these disorders will be rising as the population ages over the next several decades," co-researcher Pinchas Cohen said in a statement."New strategies to address this, particularly non-invasive, non-pharmacological approaches such as tested in Dr. Longo's study are particularly exciting."