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- The keto diet is known to be an effective tool for weight loss, but its effects on mental health remain largely unknown.
- Recent studies suggest that the keto diet may be an effective tool for treating depression and dispelling so-called "brain fog," although scientists recommend continuing research before it can be recommended as a treatment.
- Experiments with the keto diet are preferable in collaboration with a doctor, as some people experience problems during the transition to a diet low in carbohydrates.
It is hard to ignore the keto diet. You see it in the news when celebrities promote, criticize or criticize it for scientific reasons. You may hear of some friends who lost weight by adopting the diet and who are now full-fledged keto converts. Or maybe you know someone with epilepsy who uses the diet to reduce seizures, as do patients with epilepsy since the 1920s.
The keto diet is clear: it can help people lose weight: when you dramatically reduce the amount of carbohydrates you consume, your body finally enters ketosis and starts burning fat instead of carbohydrates, which leads to a weight loss. But what is less clear in the scientific literature is how the keto diet affects mental health, especially depression.
There is a wealth of anecdotal evidence suggesting that the keto diet has helped people overcome depression. As Redditor willilikeit wrote:
"Six months on keto, I lost 40 pounds, but the best result is how I feel, I'm awake with dread and I fought suicidal ideation almost every day to feel energetic, positive and rare, By the way, suicidal thinking, it's night and day Omg Thank you for all your messages and support! "
Of course, these effects could come from the simple fact that any diet that helps people lose weight and gain energy could also lead to improved mood and self-esteem. . Nevertheless, recent research suggests that the keto diet may actually be a useful tool in the fight against depression and possibly other psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and ADHD.
The keto diet in the psychiatric literature
In 2017, a group of psychiatrists published an article entitled "The current status of the ketogenic diet in psychiatry"who reviewed the research conducted on the keto diet and psychiatric conditions over the last two decades." On depression, the review noted two studies:
- A 2004 study, which tested the hypothesis that "a ketogenic diet could act as a mood stabilizer," showed that rats fed keto diets showed fewer signs of depression or less ". behavioral despair ".
- A study conducted in 2014 on rats showed an even more surprising discovery. The researchers put a group of mice on the keto diet and another on a normal diet. Descendants of the keto group were more active and had more advanced development in several key areas of the brain, including the hippocampus, cerebellum and neocortex. These effects persisted even though the children were not subjected to the keto diet.
It is interesting to note that the overview also revealed that the keto diet seems potentially effective in relieving at least a portion of almost all other psychiatric conditions mentioned in the overview, including schizophrenia, autism and anxiety. . However, it is still too early to know for sure whether the keto diet is a safe and effective treatment for any of these problems because they concluded:
"While these animal studies place research on KD on a solid foundation and identify some promising leads, the data available in humans are not sufficient to form an opinion on how to do it. effectiveness or not of this intervention in reported mental disorders ".
Why would the keto diet help depression?
There is some reason to think that the keto diet could help fight depression.
One is the anti-inflammatory properties of the diet. A high sugar diet (eg a high carbohydrate diet) is known to increase inflammation in the body. The inflammation is related to (at least some forms of) depression, studies showing that:
So the idea being that since acetosis requires a drastic reduction in the amount of sugar you consume, the keto diet could help the body reduce inflammation, which would relieve depression . Here's how Georgia Ede, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist who studies the relationship between mental health and nutrition, summed it up by summarizing what Susie Neilson said: The cup:
"… when refined carbohydrates and sugar are the brain's main source of food, the neural pathways are submerged with free radicals and glucose, depleting our natural antioxidants and leading to excessive oxidation and inflammation of the brain When the brain gets its energy From ketones, less free radicals are produced, allowing our natural antioxidants to neutralize them easily without exhausting them.Mitochondria, the "engines" of cells, could work more effectively and neurotransmitter travel through synapses could be facilitated. "
Another main reason why the keto diet could relieve depression is that it seems to help the body produce optimal amounts of GABA, the brain's main inhibitory neurotransmitter. GABA is made from glutamate, the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain. In order for your brain to function properly, it needs a balanced amount of glutamate and GABA.
However, in high carbohydrate diets, your brain often can not convert enough glutamate to GABA because it uses glutamate as a source of energy. Having too much glutamate and not enough GABA leads to neurotoxicity, and this impaired functioning seems to cause what people commonly call "brain fog". Interestingly, for reasons that are not fully understood, ketosis appears to encourage increased production of GABA, reducing neurotoxicity, brightening the brain veil, and relieving (at least potentially) conditions such as anxiety and depression.
A note of caution
If you plan to experiment with the keto diet, consult your doctor before making the change: it is well documented that your diet can have a significant impact on your mood, so it's best to know what you're going for before make a major change.
It should also be noted that some people seem to have problems when switching to the keto diet. Sometimes these problems are caused by the inevitable period of lack of energy and weakness that one undergoes when the body adjusts to changing diets, a period that many call the "flu to low carb ". Others may be faced with complications due to mineral deficiencies due to improper implementation of the diet. Still others might have problems during the transition because of the symptoms of the very conditions that they are trying to manage with their diet.
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