The ketogenic diet and schizophrenia

A research project led by Associate Professor Zoltan Sarnyai of the Centre for Bioodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics suggests that the high-fat/low-carb ketogenic diet may be effective in the management of schizophrenia.

The ketogenic diet and schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is characterised by hallucinations (hearing voices), delusions (unshakable beliefs in something untrue), social withdrawal and problems with thinking, causing suffering for the patient and major challenges to their families. At present there is no cure for schizophrenia.

The medications used only target some of the symptoms and they produce side effects such as movement disorder, weight gain and cardiovascular disease in the long-term, prompting the need to develop more effective treatment with fewer side effects.

A group at James Cook University, Australia, led by Associate Professor Zoltan Sarnyai has discovered that feeding mice with ketogenic diet, which is high on fat but very low on carbohydrates (sugars), leads to the normalisation of behaviours that resembles to schizophrenia in a well-established animal model of the disorder.

Their work, published online in the leading journal Schizophrenia Research, also show that mice on ketogenic diet weight less and have lower blood glucose levels than mice fed with normal mouse diet.

Dr. Sarnyai believes that ketogenic diet might work by providing alternative energy sources in the form of so-called ketone bodies (products of fat breakdown) and by helping to circumvent abnormally functioning cellular energy pathways in the brain in schizophrenia.

3 Likes

Interesting. Tried to start it once but failed to have the discipline to come through the first hump of sugar withdrawal issues and difficulty of planning my meals. Am interested in trying again after reading this. Interesting that things that work for epilepsy (cannabidiol, ketogenic diet) work for schizophrenia as well.

Seems worth a try - I’d talk to my doctor about this research.