Mental Health
Poor metabolic health and abnormal brain insulin signalling are now recognized as drivers of serious mental illness, including depression, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder and even schizophrenia .
Emerging clinical trials and mechanistic research suggest that low-carbohydrate and ketogenic dietary approaches may improve outcomes in these conditions. The therapeutic effects are thought to be mediated through improvements in insulin resistance, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial function, and brain energy metabolism.
Interestingly,the ketogenic diet was originally developed in 1921 to control seizures in children with intractable epilepsy, with more than a dozen randomized controlled trials demonstrating that over half of children achieve more than 50% reduction in seizure activity. Today we have ketogenic diet clinics in major childrenās hospitals around the world to treat epilepsy. It makes sense that this diet may also work for serious mental illness given overlapping pathophysiology between epilepsy and certain psychiatric conditions, and the fact that many medications treat both. Researchers have long hypothesized that ketogenic diets may have mood-stabilizing and neuroprotective properties.
This is a rapidly evolving area of research, with numerous controlled trials now underway globally investigating a ketogenic diet as a therapy for serious mental illness.
Funding for research in this field has grown after the wealthy Bascucki family experienced complete remission of treatment resistant bipolar disorder in their son Matt. He had tried multiple therapies and it was only the ketogenic diet that led to disease remission. They have set up a charity to investigate the science of ketogenic therapy for serious mental illness.
Important note: Ketogenic dietary interventions for mental health conditions should be implemented under medical supervision due to potential medication interactions, contraindications, and monitoring requirements.