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The Science of Metabolic Psychiatry

Ketogenic diets were pioneered in the field of epilepsy in 1921. In spite of a century of evidence of efficacy for seizure disorders, along with decades of rigorous scientific research demonstrating that mental illness can arise from metabolic impairments affecting the brain, ketogenic diets were not studied clinically outside the epilepsy field after a small pilot trial in 1965.

In 2022, Baszucki Group began funding the first clinical trials of ketogenic diet for serious mental illness. Now, the results of those trials–along with case series and case studies of ketogenic therapy in psychiatry–are rapidly accumulating in the scientific literature. Two dozen more trials and projects funded by Baszucki Group and others are underway around the world.

New mechanistic research is delivering insights into the metabolic roots of brain-based disorders and the bio-markers that might predict response to therapeutic metabolic interventions.

A Timeline of Ketogenic Therapy Research for Mental Illness

2020 – 2022

Reviews

June 2020
Ketogenic therapy in serious mental illness: Emerging Evidence

July 2020
Ketogenic therapy in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders: From mice to men

October 2020
Ketogenic diet as a metabolic treatment for mental illness

May 2021
Insulin resistance and blood-brain barrier dysfunction underlie neuroprogression in bipolar disorder

October 2022
The role of ketogenic metabolic therapy on the brain in serious mental illness: A review

January 2023
Ketogenic diet as a metabolic therapy for bipolar disorder: Clinical developments

2025 and beyond

Registered Current Studies

Active Clinical Trials
Ketogenic and nutritional interventions for first episode Bipolar disorder – Mclean Hosptial

Examining neurobiological mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effect of the ketogenic diet in Bipolar disorder (BD) – University of Pittsburg

16-week ketogenic intervention for Bipolar depression: Roadmap clinical trial driving clinical implementation – Mayo Clinic

A ketogenic diet approach to Bipolar disorder in adolescents – UCLA, University of Cincinnati, University of Pittsburg, University of Colorado

Can neural network instability in Schizophrenia be improved with a very low carbohydrate ketogenic diet? – Northern California Institute of Research and Education (UCSF)

Ketogenic diet intervention in Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, Major depressive disorder: Deep omic profiling – Stanford University

Ketogenic diet in people with Schizophrenia – University of Maryland, Baltimore (on hold)

The effects of diet on metabolic and mental health outcome measures in Bipolar disorder and Schizophrenia: A randomized controlled clinical trial – James Cook University

Additional Active Studies and Projects
Bipolar dsorder and ketogenic diet: A survey of the lived experience of over 100 patients – Edinburgh University

Ketogenic therapy in action: A pilot program to collect case study data on the use of a ketogenic diet to treat Bipolar disorder in children aged 8 to 17 – Children’s Mental Health Resource Center

Brain small chain fatty acid metabolism in Bipolar disorder: Ketones (BIPO) – University of Michigan

An Explosion in Research

A growing body of basic, translational and interventional trial data is being published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. We maintain a database of published papers  investigating the connection between brain metabolism, mitochondrial function and mental illness.

View Research Database

A Mental or Metabolic Problem?

Growing scientific literature shows that, just like in seizure disorders, energy metabolism is impaired in those suffering from serious mental illness. A growing number of clinical trials are laying the groundwork for ketogenic therapy as a treatment option for serious mental illness.

View Clinical Evidence

Science of Metabolic Psychiatry Videos

33:49

Metabolic Therapies for Psychiatry: State of the Evidence