The ketogenic diet may have mood-stabilizing properties

The ketogenic diet, originally introduced in the 1920s, has been undergoing a recent resurgence as an adjunctive treatment for refractory epilepsy, particularly in children. In this difficult-to-treat population, the diet exhibits remarkable efficacy with two-thirds showing significant reduction in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical hypotheses 2001-12, Vol.57 (6), p.724-726
Main Authors: El-Mallakh, R.S., Paskitti, M.E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bipolar Disorder - diet therapy
Diet Fads
Epilepsy - diet therapy
Humans
Ketones - metabolism
Ketosis - psychology
Models, Biological
Mood Disorders - diet therapy
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Summary:The ketogenic diet, originally introduced in the 1920s, has been undergoing a recent resurgence as an adjunctive treatment for refractory epilepsy, particularly in children. In this difficult-to-treat population, the diet exhibits remarkable efficacy with two-thirds showing significant reduction in seizure frequency and one-third becoming nearly seizure-free. There are several reasons to suspect that the ketogenic diet may also have utility as a mood stabilizer in bipolar illness. These include the observation that several anticonvulsant interventions may improve outcome in mood disorders. Furthermore, beneficial changes in brain-energy profile are noted in subjects on the ketogenic diet. This is important since global cerebral hypometabolism is a characteristic of the brains of depressed or manic individuals. Finally, the extracellular changes that occur in ketosis would be expected to decrease intracellular sodium concentrations, a common property of all effective mood stabilizers. Trials of the ketogenic diet in relapse prevention of bipolar mood episodes are warranted.
ISSN:0306-9877
1532-2777
DOI:10.1054/mehy.2001.1446