Does ketogenic diet improve mental illness? Study sheds light

Now, a study led by Stanford Medicine researchers has found that a ketogenic diet not only restores metabolic health in patients with severe mental illness as they continue their medications, but it further improves their psychiatric conditions.

The results, published in the journal Psychiatry Research, suggested that a dietary intervention can be a powerful aid in treating mental illness.

In a four-month trial, Sethi and her team monitored 21 adult participants with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, taking antipsychotic medications, and experiencing metabolic abnormalities. They followed a ketogenic diet, comprising 10% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 60% fat, without calorie counting The research team tracked how well the participants followed the diet through weekly measures of blood ketone levels, with 14 fully adherent, six semi-adherent, and one non-adherent participant by trial's end.

The results revealed after four months of a ketogenic diet, none of the participants had metabolic syndrome, defined as having at least three of five conditions: abdominal obesity, elevated triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, elevated blood pressure and elevated fasting glucose levels. Furthermore, the participants lost 10% of their body weight; reduced their waist circumference by 11% percent; and had lower blood pressure, body mass index, triglycerides, blood sugar levels and insulin resistance.

"Anything that improves metabolic health in general is probably going to improve brain health anyway. But the ketogenic diet can provide ketones as an alternative fuel to glucose for a brain with energy dysfunction," said Sethi.

Reference: Shebani Sethi, Diane Wakeham, Terrance Ketter, Farnaz Hooshmand, Julia Bjornstad, Blair Richards, Eric Westman, Ronald M Krauss, Laura Saslow. Ketogenic Diet Intervention on Metabolic and Psychiatric Health in Bipolar and Schizophrenia: A Pilot Trial. Psychiatry Research, 2024; 335: 115866 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2024.115866