🥑 Keto for major depression and anxiety

A recent case study tested the effectiveness of a ketogenic diet and lifestyle intervention on three adults with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder.

All volunteers followed a personalised whole food ketogenic diet with 1.5:1 ration (fat: protein + carbohydrates) under specialist supervision.

For content, this was not a strict ketogenic diet to allow more variety in the diet, meet micronutrient needs and are easier to sustain for longer.

Lifestyle changes included family/friends support, nature walks and community building.

All volunteers showed complete remission after 12 weeks, with anxiety having responded and remitted more quickly than major depression.

Also, the volunteers lost between 10.9 to 14.8% of their initial body weight within 12 weeks and improved metabolically; one achieved optimal metabolic health.

🥊 Punchline

A ketogenic diet helped achieve complete remission of major depression and generalised anxiety disorder within 12 weeks. However, it’s still early days for generalised recommendations.

🥩 Keto for PTSD

A recent study was the first of its kind to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of a ketogenic diet in post-traumatic stress disorder.

Three patients diagnosed with PTSD followed a ketogenic diet with extra β-hydroxybutyrate supplementation to obtain ketosis for 4 weeks.

The ketogenic diet consisted of a semi solid diet varying between 4:1 (14.7g fat, 1.6g carbs, and 3.4g protein per 100ml) and 3:1 ratio (30g fat, 1.5–2.0g carbs, and 8g protein per 100g).

The 2 patients who completed the study reported significant acceptability and clinical benefits, such as better quality of life, from following a ketogenic diet.

Despite low to moderate adverse reactions were reported in a total of 70% of intervention days, the most frequent being headache followed by fatigue.

🥊 Punchline

A ketogenic diet was feasible and improved PTSD symptoms and quality of life in patients with PTSD. Again, it’s still early days for generalised recommendations, but this research highlight challenges for future clinical trials.

🍳 Keto for bipolar disorder

Clinical trials on ketogenic diets in patients with bipolar disorder has not been conducted yet.

But there is an opportunity to learn from a recent case study.

A woman with bipolar disorder whose depression had responded only minimally to weekly ketamine treatments followed a ketogenic diet for 21 weeks.

Carbs intake was slowly reduced over 2 weeks to 30g daily intake and achieve a 1.5:1 ratio (154g fat, 72g protein, 30g carbs) to increase ketone production.

There was extra supplementation to meet micronutrient needs (e.g. B-complex, zinc, copper, vitamin D and electrolytes).

The ketogenic diet significantly improved treatment-resistant depressive symptoms, with both mood assessments and quality of life showing marked improvements.

Mental health and emotional wellbeing was reported as significantly more stable.

🥊 Punchline

A ketogenic diet led to measurable improvements not only in depression, but also in anxiety, PTSD symptoms and quality of life. Conclusions cannot be based on a 1-person case study, but the results highlight the need for further research in this area.