Diet and Psychiatric Disorders (Adult Population)

This 2019 review by Sarnyai et al. summarizes recent findings on the efficacy of a ketogenic diet in preclinical models and in schizophrenic patients. It also highlights emerging evidence for compromised glucose and energy metabolism in schizophrenia, which provides a strong rationale and a potential mechanism of action for the ketogenic diet. The authors state that recent postmortem prefrontal cortical samples and in-vivo NMR spectroscopy results support the idea that there is impaired synaptic communication in the brains of people with schizophrenia: the result of abnormal sugar handling and dysfunctions of the mitochondria. In some pharmacological and genetic mouse models, the ketogenic diet — which provides alternative fuel to glucose for bioenergetic processes in the brain — normalizes schizophrenia-like behaviors. In recent case studies, the adoption of the ketogenic diet improved psychiatric symptoms, metabolic dysfunctions, and body composition in schizophrenic patients. Randomized controlled clinical trials are warranted to confirm the efficacy of the ketogenic diet as a co-treatment in the management of both clinical symptoms and metabolic abnormalities both inherent to schizophrenia and resulting from antipsychotic treatment.