New York Times: Can a Keto Diet Really Improve Mental Health?

Bret: 
Welcome to the Metabolic Mind Podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Bret Scher. Metabolic Mind is a non-profit initiative of Baszucki Group where we’re providing information about the intersection of metabolic health and mental health and metabolic therapies, such as nutritional ketosis as therapies for mental illness.

Thank you for joining us. Although our podcast is for informational purposes only and we aren’t giving medical advice, we hope you will learn from our content and it will help facilitate discussions with your healthcare providers to see if you could benefit from exploring the connection between metabolic and mental health.

A couple of months ago, The New York Times published a piece asking an important question. Could the ketogenic diet really help treat serious mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression? At the time, the framing was cautious and asked questions about what we know about ketogenic therapy and metabolic psychiatry.

But instead of stopping there, the Times did something I wish happened more often in science journalism. They leaned in, and they looked deeper for a broader perspective. And in their most recent article, they highlighted the growing body of research and real-world experience suggesting that ketogenic therapy may have an important role in mental health care.

They pointed to early promising studies from Stanford, led by Dr. Shebani Sethi, from University of Edinburgh with Dr. Iain Campbell, and from Dr. Jeff Volek’s lab at Ohio State University. They pointed out that these are encouraging early-stage studies, pilot trials with signals that are hard to ignore.

And the science is progressing with some larger randomized controlled trials concluding now and others that are still ongoing. And you can learn about the published and ongoing trials at our science page, which we’ll link to in the description below. This is a page we continually update as new studies are published or new ones begin enrolling.

But what made this article especially meaningful to me was that they didn’t just focus on the science. They didn’t stop at the science. They also highlighted two individuals whose lives have been profoundly changed by ketogenic therapy. These are stories from Maya Schumer and Lewis Anstee, who are highlighted on our THINK+SMART page.

They represent the numerous individuals, who have shared their stories of living with mental illness for years or sometimes decades and not seeing the results they wanted, and how ketogenic and metabolic therapies helped them get their lives back. Now, let’s be very clear. Ketogenic therapy is not a cure, and it’s not meant to replace standard psychiatric care.

Experts in metabolic psychiatry emphasize that ketogenic therapy should be considered an adjunct treatment. Something that works alongside medications and other treatment modalities, not instead of them. No one should stop their medications on their own, and anyone considering this approach should do it with a knowledgeable clinician.

But here’s what matters. For people who have tried multiple medications, who’ve seen limited recovery, who are still searching for answers, this represents hope. It’s a new way of thinking about mental illness through this metabolic lens and suggests a future where treatment isn’t limited to a pharmacologic approach.

We’re excited to see major publications like The New York Times continuing to explore this space with nuance and curiosity because this field is still evolving. And the science is still growing, and the potential is real as are the stories of healing. So, if you want to learn more or hear directly from individuals who have experienced life-changing improvements, we encourage you to visit our THINK+SMART page and engage with our other content on our website and our YouTube page as well.

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