Ketogenic diet may improve severe mental illness: Research

The common antipsychotic medication used for severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder might have unintended consequences Although these medications aid in the regulation of brain chemistry they frequently result in metabolic adverse effects such as obesity and insulin resistance which are so upsetting that many patients cease taking themAccording to a recent pilot study conducted by doctors at Stanford Medicine a ketogenic diet helps these individuals mental health in addition to restoring their metabolic health while they continue their drug regimen The findings which were released in Psychiatry Research indicate that nutritional interventions can be quite effective in addressing mental health conditionsIts very promising and very encouraging that you can take back control of your illness in some way aside from the usual standard of care said Shebani Sethi MD associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the first author of the new paperThe senior author of the paper is Laura Saslow PhD associate professor of health behavior and biological sciences at the University of MichiganSethi who is board certified in obesity and psychiatry remembers when she first noticed the connection As a medical student working in an obesity clinic she saw a patient with treatmentresistant schizophrenia whose auditory hallucinations quieted on a ketogenic dietThat prompted her to dig into the medical literature There were only a few decadesold case reports on using the ketogenic diet to treat schizophrenia but there was a long track record of success in using ketogenic diets to treat epileptic seizuresThe ketogenic diet has been proven to be effective for treatmentresistant epileptic seizures by reducing the excitability of neurons in the brain Sethi said We thought it would be worth exploring this treatment in psychiatric conditionsA few years later Sethi coined the term metabolic psychiatry a new field that approaches mental health from an energy conversion perspectiveIn the fourmonth pilot trial Sethis team followed 21 adult participants who were diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder taking antipsychotic medications and had a metabolic abnormality such as weight gain insulin resistance hypertriglyceridemia dyslipidemia or impaired glucose tolerance The participants were instructed to follow a ketogenic diet with approximately 1037 of the calories from carbohydrates 3037 from protein and 6037 from fat They were not told to count caloriesThe focus of eating is on whole nonprocessed foods including protein and nonstarchy vegetables and not restricting fats said Sethi who shared ketofriendly meal ideas with the participants They were also given keto cookbooks and access to a health coachThe research team tracked how well the participants followed the diet through weekly measures of blood ketone levels Ketones are acids produced when the body breaks down fat instead of glucose for energy By the end of the trial 14 patients had been fully adherent six were semiadherent and only one was nonadherentThe participants underwent a variety of psychiatric and metabolic assessments throughout the trialBefore the trial 2937 of the participants met the criteria for 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 After four months on a ketogenic diet none of the participants had metabolic syndromeOn average the participants lost 1037 of their body weight reduced their waist circumference by 1137 percent and had lower blood pressure body mass index triglycerides blood sugar levels and insulin resistanceWere seeing huge changes Sethi said Even if youre on antipsychotic drugs we can still reverse the obesity the metabolic syndrome the insulin resistance I think thats very encouraging for patientsThe psychiatric benefits were also striking On average the participants improved 3137 on a psychiatrist rating of mental illness known as the clinical global impressions scale with threequarters of the group showing clinically meaningful improvement Overall the participants also reported better sleep and greater life satisfactionThe participants reported improvements in their energy sleep mood and quality of life Sethi said They feel healthier and more hopefulThe researchers were impressed that most of the participants stuck with the diet We saw more benefit with the adherent group compared with the semiadherent group indicating a potential doseresponse relationship Sethi saidThere is increasing evidence that psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder stem from metabolic deficits in the brain which affect the excitability of neurons Sethi saidThe researchers hypothesize that just as a ketogenic diet improves the rest of the bodys metabolism it also improves the brains metabolismAnything that improves metabolic health in general is probably going to improve brain health anyway Sethi said But the ketogenic diet can provide ketones as an alternative fuel to glucose for a brain with energy dysfunctionLikely there are multiple mechanisms at work she added and the main purpose of the small pilot trial is to help researchers detect signals that will guide the design of larger more robust studiesAs a physician Sethi cares for many patients with both serious mental illness and obesity or metabolic syndrome but few studies have focused on this undertreated populationShe is founder and director of the metabolic psychiatry clinic at Stanford MedicineMany of my patients suffer from both illnesses so my desire was to see if metabolic interventions could help them she said They are seeking more help They are looking to just feel betterThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday 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