https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/02/17/keto-diet-schizophrenia-rfk-jr/
Ketogenic diets do show promise for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but the research is preliminary and not backed by randomized controlled trials.
Kevin Klatt, an assistant professor in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto, said Kennedy’s comments about the keto diet illustrate the contradiction between the extremely high bar the health secretary sets for evidence of vaccine efficacy and the low bar for nutritional advice.
“Gold-standard science for them is the science they like,” said Klatt, who is also a registered dietician. “You can take a single study or anecdote, and that gets to be called gold-standard science.”
He joined President Donald Trump in connecting Tylenol use in pregnancy to autism based on research that shows an association but not causation. He has criticized the fluoridation of drinking water as lowering the IQs of children, citing studies in areas with levels far above the acceptable threshold in the United States. He also touted Vitamin A as a measles treatment, which has not been proven in the U.S., based on the experiences of malnourished children abroad.
I don't have the link. But a whipe back there was a vdeo interview of a researcher. i think she had a degree in pharmacology. She had been conducting a study on the connection between a keto diet and poppe diagnosed with schizophrenia. It was being done at a prestigious research facility.
ReplyDeleteThe study only involvd a handful of people. But it was a rigorous study in that it did not rely on the participants to self-report their diets. Self-reporting may not always be a reliable way to ensure a diet is kept to. Instead, the participants were staying at the research facility and their diet was therefore definitely going to be a keto diet.
Part way through the study it was cancelled by a new administrator at the research facility. Now, we can't simply conclude the cancellation was motivated by a desire by that new administrator to protect pharmaceutical companies who make money off drugs they sell to treat schizophrenia.
But what was notable about this study was that it was completely funded by an independent entity. So it wasn't costing the research facility any loss to allow the study to finish.
So, yes, making expansive claims about the keto diet based on flimsy evidence may not be right. But pharmaceutical companies allegedly using their market power to ward off competition should also be explored.
Lots of typos
Deletewhile not whipe
people not poppe
etc
Here':https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2024/04/keto-diet-mental-illness.html
DeleteThere is no question that being in a state of ketosis has stabilizing effects on the brain. Before anti-epileptic drugs were invented, ketosis was the treatment for epilepsy.
And maybe a strict ketogenic diet can treat some forms of schizophraenia. But the downside is that staying in ketosis has negative effects and is very difficult to maintain indefinitely.
The standard treatment for a diagnosis of schizophrenia is drugs that have side effects. Furthermore, once people taking the drugs leave a controlled clinical setting, it is not unusual for them to terminate their taking of the drugs.
DeleteBottom line: neither diet nor drugs are the ultimate way to address the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Despite the drumbeat of conventional medicine to the contrary, self control is the strategy that will work to ameliorate behavior and speech of those labeled as schizophrenic.
Kudos to President Donald Trump and Secretary RFK for being willing to think and act creaively.
Oh what the heck, I'll quote DT: Nope! Drugs. Only thing that has ever been shown to work. Yes, they have side effects. Everything, even food, has side effects but no one stops eating.
DeleteWell, ok then. I guess I'm wrong.
Delete