Induced Ketosis as a Treatment for Neuroprogressive Disorders: Food for Thought?
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review synthesizing mechanistic hypotheses and theoretical rationale without systematic methodology or primary human trial data.
PubMed 32034911 · doi:10.1093/ijnp/pyaa008
What was done
The authors conducted a narrative review evaluating the mechanistic rationale, theoretical biological pathways, and safety of induced ketosis (via ketogenic diet or exogenous ketone ingestion) for neuroprogressive psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder.
What was found
No quantitative findings, effect sizes, or participant numbers are reported in the abstract. The review describes mechanistic rationale wherein beta-hydroxybutyrate bypasses cerebral glucose hypometabolism and potentially reduces oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation. It also identifies regulatory pathways altered in these disorders that may be modulated by ketosis, including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), Keap1/Nrf2, Sirtuin-1, NF-κB p65, and NAD.
Why it matters
This review provides a consolidated biochemical rationale for evaluating metabolic interventions such as ketosis as potential disease-modifying therapies in severe psychiatric disorders.
Limits
As a narrative review, it presents mechanistic hypotheses rather than primary clinical trial data or systematic synthesis. The abstract provides no quantitative metrics, clinical outcome measures, or patient sample sizes.
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