A 12-week ketogenic diet reduced depressive symptoms by 69-71% in college students, according to a new study. Researchers point to three possible mechanisms: better brain energy use, less inflammation, and gut bacteria changes that produce antidepressant compounds.
A brand new study in Translational Psychiatry found that a ketogenic diet can be highly effective in treating depression. Among college students, depressive symptoms were improved by 69-71% over just 12 weeks by a ketogenic diet, depending on what scale was used, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale or the PHQ-9, but the results were consistent, massive improvements in depression affecting every single participant. That raises the question, how does a ketogenic diet improve mental health? Well, several ways: by enhancing brain energy metabolism, by reducing neuroinflammation, and even by reshaping the gut microbiome to produce antidepressant compounds. The punchline is not that this was a perfect study, or that it's the be-all end-all, the final word. It's that what many dismiss as a fad diet is, in reality, a powerful metabolic health intervention that can save lives.
