Experts speak out as Robert F Kennedy Jr claims keto diet can cure schizophrenia
Health experts have weighed in on the claim that the keto diet can supposedly cure schizophrenia, as touted by Robert F Kennedy Jr, Health and Human Services Secretary for the United States.
The ketogenic diet, initially developed in 1921 as a treatment for epilepsy, generally prioritises the consumption of fat sources over carbohydrates.
This reduction of bread, rice, and other carbs often puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis.
Studies suggest this state can help reduce blood sugar and insulin levels, as well as possibly reduce symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, and improve the outcomes of traumatic brain injuries, as per Healthline.
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72-year-old RFK Jr, who has previously discussed following a variation of the carnivore diet, recently made an unfounded claim, alleging the century-old keto diet could ‘cure' schizophrenia.
The comments came whilst travelling in Tennessee as part of his national tour to urge American denizens to ‘eat real food’, according to The New York Times.
“We now know that the things that you eat are driving mental illness in this country,” the politician alleged at the Tennessee State Capitol.
He explained that a doctor at Harvard had allegedly ‘cured schizophrenia using keto diets’.
“There are studies right now that I saw two days ago where people lose their bipolar diagnosis by changing their diet.”
According to the publication, RFK Jr was possibly referring to a paper published by Dr Christopher Palmer, a Harvard Medical School assistant professor, who said ‘two patients with longstanding schizophrenia… experienced complete remission of symptoms’ with the keto diet.
He reported at the time that both patients ‘were able to stop antipsychotic medications and have remained in remission for years now.’
Dr Palmer has since set the record straight on RFK Jr’s claims, telling Scientific American that while he appreciated the secretary’s apparent ‘enthusiasm’ for his research, he never said that the popular anti-inflammatory diet could specifically ‘cure’ the mental illness.
“I have never used the word cure in any of my talks or my research,” he stated.
“The way that I think about the ketogenic diet is not about a good diet versus a bad diet or a healthy diet versus an unhealthy diet. I think about it as a metabolic intervention.”
In an interview with The Harvard Crimson, the health expert added that if the environmental lawyer had referred to keto being a ‘powerful treatment’ rather than a cure, then he ‘would have been spot on’.
Despite Dr Palmer’s words and the Health Secretary’s statement, Dr Mark Olfson, a Columbia psychiatry professor, has denied that there is ‘any credible evidence’ to say that ketogenic diets cure schizophrenia.
Dr Paul Appelbaum, another professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and past president of the American Psychiatric Association, added that while some small studies show ‘preliminary evidence’ that the diet ‘might be helpful’ for patients with schizophrenia’, it is ‘simply misleading to suggest that we know that ketogenic diets can improve schizophrenia symptoms, much less that they can ‘cure’ the condition’.
Schizophrenia is usually treated with medicines and psychosocial therapy, with some people needing to stay in a hospital during a crisis if symptoms are severe, reported the Mayo Clinic.
Antipsychotic medicines are the most prescribed drugs, with most acting on dopamine and serotonin receptors.
The goal of medicine is to manage symptoms at the lowest possible dose, rather than try to cure schizophrenia, which affects around 3.7 million Americans, as per the Treatment Advocacy Center.
Dr Palmer claimed that patients should not stop taking their medication and attempt the ketogenic diet on their own.
He said that this could lead to severe mental health emergencies, including psychosis or involuntary hospitalisation.
FOODbible has contacted the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
Ella Scott