The ketogenic diet, which is based on the exclusion of carbohydrates, has proven itself in the treatment of obesity, type 2 diabetes and epilepsy. What about psychiatric illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder?
People with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder may soon be prescribed a diet very high in fat and low in carbohydrates: the ketogenic diet. Many patients suffer from a double whammy of psychiatric and metabolic nature. If medicines based onantipsychoticsantipsychotics help regulate the chemistrychemistry of the brain, they also often cause side effects such as insulin resistance andobesityobesity.
A 4-month pilot trial — published in Psychiatry Research — suggests that, like the rest of the body, the ketogenic dietketogenic diet also improves the metabolismmetabolism of the brain. Participants experienced a significant reduction in their weight (12%), their BMIBMI (12%), their waist size (13%) and their adipose tissueadipose tissue visceral (36%). Furthermore, the therapytherapy ketogenic led to psychiatric benefits, with an average improvement of 31% on the Psychiatrists’ Rating of Mental Illness Scale. Participants also reported better sleep and higher quality of life.
Why such a diet?
“ We saw more benefits in the group that followed the diet than in the group that only partially followed it, indicating a potential dose-response relationship. “, said Shebani Sethi, Associate ProfessorAssociate Professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, which explains the biological phenomenon at the origin. “ There is growing evidence that psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder arise from metabolic deficits in the brain, which affect the excitability of neuronsneurons. The ketogenic diet can provide ketonesketones as alternative fuelalternative fuel At glucoseglucose for a brain suffering from energy dysfunction. »
This preliminary trial shows promise for the design of larger, more comprehensive studies. solidsolid.
