Can the Keto Diet Help Bipolar Disorder & Schizophrenia?

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My wife lives with bipolar type 1. She experienced a very severe course of illness, melancholic stupors, rapid cycling, mania with psychotic features. She was a poor responder to lithium, had a partial response to lamotragine that faded over time. Her psychiatrist has been recommending keto for the last four years, I brushed it off as a fad. Then I was listening to Nassir Ghaemi in podcast and he said something offhand about how the pathogenesis of bipolar is most likely "metabolic" and something about Kraepelin, so I checked out "Lehrbuch der psychiatric" and under dementia praecox there was this entry about"autointoxication" and a whole bunch of stuff about diet in the section on manic depressive illness. That got me thinking, and so we gave it a crack and four months later she is in almost complete remission.

Thank you for covering this, I've been on keto diet for 2 years and my bipolar has stabilized dramatically

I want to share that the Keto Diet changed my life. Not only did I get into the best shape of my life, my sleep improved, my mood improved, my breathing improved, my outlook on life improved etc. etc. etc. I'm not a doctor and no expert but I've never done anything that worked more for my well-being than this lifestyle.

Lauren is doing SO well on the keto diet. It's a pleasure seeing the changes in her. She's almost off her meds. For those who had to take high doses of meds, there is no question that being on a keto regime is healthier than they were.

Bipolar 1 here - keto changed my life. My symptoms were hugely improved on the diet. I was on it for 6 years before returning to a normal diet. It didn't cure my bipolar, but it cured my brain fog (it hasn't returned since going off the diet), which was actually the most debilitating symptom of the disorder for me.

Im schizoaffective and been using keto for about 7 years now and it's changed my life for the better with not only weight loss but mood stability etc. Ive been able to lower my dose and change meds that were les strong in side effects.

theres a youtuber "living well with schizophrenia" that has schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder that has been doing keto for 4 months with success. It must be pretty effective if someone with comorbid disorders is having such good results. I don't have schizoprenia or bi polar (and not keto), but I still find it fascinating.. I have a special diet for my own needs that has been working well for me (15 years) but majority people assume i have an eating disorder. So i love hearing about other dietarily different folks and how they utilize food to help alleviate their chronic concerns.

I love the keto diet. I am not longer on medication for depression and anxiety. I will make one warning. Keto often leads down the rabbit hole of intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting has been a wonderful tool, but I wanted to fast longer as I was seeing these people doing 21 and even 30 day fasts. I have found that fasting for longer than a day or so puts me in a hypomanic state almost every time, and it can be kind of scary. I am not saying this happens to everyone of course, but do what works for you and don't get caught up comparing yourself to others especially when it comes to fasting. You don't have to fast 30 days, but a simple 16/8 intermittent fast can be a wonderful addition.

I'm so glad that the information about connection between what we eat and how our brain works is finally getting out to the wide audience. A few weeks ago I attended a conference in Monaco, where two psychiatrists who work with severe cases of depression were showing results of studies related to nutrition and supplements helping with depression. I myself as a person with bipolar 2 am constantly trying to improve my eating and lifestyle habits to aleviate my severe depressive episodes. Hang on in there, gyus, we will make it through!

Hopefully the field of nutritional psychiatry grows and grows because it's the most exciting thing that's happened for the discipline since SSRIs imo.

Keto changed my life! I've been doing it on and off since 2016 and I notice a huge difference when I'm not on it.

Bipolar disorder is not a mood disorder, fundamentally. Research is rapidly arriving at this conclusion. It is an intracellular energy dysregulation disorder — of which the mood symptoms are a direct reflection of. Specifically, BD is a neurometabolic dysregulation disorder with a specific psychiatric profile or phenotype of marked mood instability. Physiological energy goes up and down, then mood and outward behavior follow nearly 1:1. Regulate the body, and psychobehavioral symptoms have no choice but to follow. A metabolically healthy body creates an inhospitable environment for BD symptoms. You will not find a person symptomatic with BD that has no evidence of metabolic dysfunction. Therefore, the field we must reframe how we view and treat this disorder. Every single candidate mechanism is biological in nature, meaning any meaningful treatment will necessarily target the same dysfunctional pathways. Individualized medicine and a full-body, full-systemic medical assessment is required to identify individual differences needed for effective care. This is essential for long term improvement and may offer hope of true remission.

I can definitely attest to keto improving my bipolar II moods, as well as my brain fog. I did unfortunately have to stop keto, but I've stuck with a relatively low carb diet and avoiding added/refined sugars and most simple carbs, so I still see benefits like mental clarity from decreased inflammation and fewer blood sugar-related mood swings. Keto, when done correctly and responsibly, can be life-changing. And refined carbs are the frickin' devil. Thank you for another top quality educational video, Dr. Marks!

I'm very glad that you produced this podcast. You're bringing an important message to a large audience. Here are a few things that most proponents of medical keto say: 1. If you have a potential for serious symptoms, don't attempt a medical keto diet on your own. It may affect appropriate medication levels, for example. Or it may trigger a symptom at least temporarily. 2. There are many high fiber, high nutrient, low carbohydrate vegetables. It's possible to eat a lot of vegetables on the keto diet. 3. Most people recommending keto seem to recommend adequate, moderate protein, not super high protein. 4. It can be useful to work with a keto nutritionist or coach who can help you find a specific implementation of a keto diet that works for you. I'm not at all an expert, but I've been consuming many videos and other resources on this subject, and these are a few tidbits I've picked up. Thank you.

I’m literally addicted to carbs and have bipolar type 2 - I work out regularly and my body can’t lose any weight. Time to give this another try

Thanks Tracey. Always a pleasure.

Thank you for these uplifting videos! And those Kidneys were super cute with their little salt shakers! :)

Thanks for talking about this.

💛Dr. Marks, this video is so helpful. Due to the nature of most inquires vital information has been the catalyst of so many recoveries. Thank you for the many days of relief from oxidative stress, anxiety, and abnormalities caused by the of attention to these very important issues.👣👣