New findings of a pioneering Stanford pilot study published in Psychiatry Research show dramatic improvements in psychiatric and metabolic outcomes in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
| Diagnosis | Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder |
| Principal Investigator | Shebani Sethi, MD |
| Institution | Stanford University |
| Location | Stanford, California |
Dr. Shebani Sethi’s 4-month clinical trial at Stanford of ketogenic diet for serious mental illness showed promising preliminary results indicating remission of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in participants who adhered to the diet, as well as reversal of metabolic syndrome for those with the diagnosis.
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Shebani Sethi, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford Medicine, shares the results of a pilot study showing that a ketogenic diet can alleviate the symptoms of mental illnesses.
Shebani Sethi, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford Medicine, shares the results of a pilot study showing that a ketogenic diet can alleviate the symptoms of mental illnesses.
This landmark pilot study was the first clinical trial to investigate a ketogenic diet intervention as a therapy for serious mental illness since 1965. 21 participants with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia followed a ketogenic diet for 4 months. All participants were either also overweight or had metabolic abnormalities, such as insulin resistance or impaired glucose tolerance.
At trial completion, 79% of participants showed a clinically meaningful psychiatric improvement, including increased life satisfaction and enhanced sleep quality. While average psychiatric measures improved across all participants, greater adherence was associated with larger improvements, suggesting full adherence maximizes benefits. All participants who adhered to the diet were in recovery or a recovered state at the conclusion of the study, and 75% of participants overall were in recovery. Adherent individuals also experienced significant reductions in weight, BMI, waist circumference, and visceral adipose tissue alongside improvements in metabolic markers, such as decreased insulin resistance and triglyceride levels. All participants who met the criteria for metabolic syndrome at trial initiation were in remission by the end of the study.
These findings demonstrated the safety and feasibility of a ketogenic nutritional intervention in the treatment of serious mental illness.
The study is the first to use neuroimaging to demonstrate that a ketogenic diet may improve brain metabolism in individuals with a bipolar disorder diagnosis. Increased ketone levels were correlated with participants’ improvements in mood, energy, impulsivity, and anxiety, with some describing the intervention as life-changing.