Anti-vax profiteer, wellness grifter, and HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has recently proclaimed that the keto diet can cure mental health disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Not that anyone should take medical advice from him on anything, but this approaches his anti-vaccine rhetoric for its level of danger to humans.

After banging my head on the table several times, I just knew that the Skeptical Raptor could not ignore this. And no, this is not a joke or satire — Kennedy really claims this pseudoscientific nonsense about the keto diet and mental health.

As you can imagine, this post is going to explain why the keto diet became a thing, and why Kennedy thinks it might cure schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

What is the keto diet?

The ketogenic diet, more commonly known as the keto diet, is a high-fat, average-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that was originally used primarily to treat difficult-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children. The ketogenic diet forces cells to use fat for energy rather than glucose.

Normally, when carbohydrates are consumed, they are broken down in the digestive tract into three basic monosaccharides, glucose, fructose, and galactose, and then they are absorbed into the blood. Fructose and galactose are used for numerous biochemical processes in cells, but glucose circulates throughout the body, where insulin signals cells to absorb it for energy.

Glucose is not only extremely important for fueling brain metabolism but is also critical for energy for every cell in the body.

However, if one’s diet reduces carbohydrate and glucose intake, the liver is signaled to convert fats into fatty acids and ketone bodies. In the case of epilepsy, the ketone bodies in the blood replace glucose as the energy source for the brain, which can lead to a reduction in the incidence of epileptic seizures. However, better medications to control these seizures have been developed, and the usefulness of the diet in epilepsy has become limited.

During the past couple of years, the ketogenic diet became the new fad diet, endorsed by the usual woo-pushing celebrities like RFK Jr.

However, like the gluten-free diet nonsense, where people claim they can have a little gluten (individuals with diagnosed celiac disease have an on/off situation with gluten – even a little can be harmful), the ketogenic diet is, in reality, very difficult to implement. Even small amounts of carbohydrates can reduce the ketogenic effect.

Why does Kennedy think that the keto diet cures schizophrenia?

Typical of Kennedy, he used a small 2019 study that showed a remission of schizophrenia, a serious brain illness in which the individual may hear voices that are not there, or they may think other people are trying to hurt them. The study only followed two patients. In the world of medical science, two patients are hardly the basis of science-based medicine.

Furthermore, the researchers were very clear — the diet did not “cure” the two patients — it put schizophrenia into remission. We have no clue if this is a permanent reversal of symptoms or something that could return. The two patients will still have a lifetime of following the diet and visiting psychiatrists to determine if the symptoms are returning.

And this was two patients in a controlled situation. To blandly suggest that the keto diet will cure schizophrenia is just plain dangerous. I am appalled that the leader of the US healthcare system can make these kinds of statements without consequences.

Kennedy’s claim that the keto diet can “cure” bipolar disorder, a mood disorder that can cause intense mood swings, is even worse. It’s based on a current UCLA clinical trial that is still recruiting patients. Furthermore, the researchers are combining standard pharmaceutical treatments along with a ketogenic diet. They are not trying to determine if the keto diet will reverse or “cure” bipolar disorder. We are years from published data being available to determine if the keto diet has any effect.

Studies testing the role of the ketogenic diet on mental health conditions have been small, anecdotal, or pilot studies. Many did not include a control group of patients following a regular diet, like the two-person schizophrenia diet discussed above.

Other clinical trials are underway to determine if keto diets have any effect on mental health. But it is critical to remember that clinical trials do not mean it works.

We may yet find powerful evidence that the ketogenic diet may have some effect on the course and development of mental health issues. But that time is not now, and we don’t know when we might have this evidence.

Kennedy needs to shut up

It goes without saying that Kennedy has no clue as to whether the keto diet has any effect on any mental illness, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Patients should not stop medications to try a ketogenic diet as a treatment for any mental illness. That could be dangerous and deadly.

Outside of the anti-vaccine flotsam and jetsam, Kennedy’s MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) grift seems to be focusing on nutrition. He wants medical schools to teach more about nutrition (admittedly, not a bad idea), but he thinks that nutrition will suddenly fix everything, including mental health.

I just know that people believe that we wouldn’t need vaccines if we had better food. Our diet can prevent polio and measles, according to the MAHA crowd.

Let’s be clear — don’t trust Kennedy on vaccines and don’t trust him on treating mental illnesses. Nothing he says about either is based on actual scientific evidence.

Medicine has come a long way in developing treatments for mental health, and diet may one day be a component. But the science is not there right now, and Kennedy’s suggestions will cause great harm.

Citations

• Palmer CM, Gilbert-Jaramillo J, Westman EC. The ketogenic diet and remission of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia: Two case studies. Schizophr Res. 2019 Jun;208:439-440. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2019.03.019. Epub 2019 Apr 6. PMID: 30962118.

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