Researchers explore ketogenic diet’s effects on bipolar disorder among adolescents and young adults
UC part of national pilot study led by UCLA Health, funded by Baszucki Group
The University of Cincinnati is set to be a site for a pilot study led by UCLA Health to explore whether a ketogenic diet, in combination with standard pharmacological treatment, can improve symptoms in adolescents and young adults with bipolar disorder.
Melissa DelBello, MD. Photo/University of Cincinnati.
While preliminary research suggests ketogenic therapy has a beneficial impact on psychiatric and metabolic function in adults with bipolar disorder, this will be the first study to examine the effectiveness and feasibility of this adjunctive therapy on mental health in this population.
Set to begin in March, the pilot study will recruit participants aged 12-21 with bipolar 1, bipolar 2, or unspecified bipolar disorders. The approximately 40 enrolled participants will follow a 16-week ketogenic program while continuing their prescribed mood stabilizing medications. The partnering researchers will be providing the food to participants at no charge. All participants will work with registered dietitians, psychiatrists, and psychologists affiliated with the study.
To assess the impact of the intervention, independent evaluators will conduct monthly psychiatric assessments, including measures of depression, mania, anxiety, psychosis, psychosocial functioning and quality of life. Additionally, participants will provide daily blood fingerprick ketone measures to measure metabolic changes.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to conduct a pilot study examining the feasibility and mood stabilizing effects of this innovative strategy for adolescents and young adults living with bipolar spectrum disorders,” said Melissa DelBello, MD, site principal investigator, Dr. Stanley and Mickey Kaplan professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in UC’s College of Medicine and a UC Health physician.
David Miklowitz, PhD, national principal investigator and distinguished professor of psychiatry in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, said that if the pilot study shows the diet to be feasible in young people with bipolar disorder, further research would be needed to test the effects of the ketogenic therapy against a comparison treatment, such as a non-ketogenic Mediterranean diet.
UC’s Luis Rodrigo Patino Duran, MD, will serve as a site co-investigator. UCLA Health will serve as the coordinating research site, with the other participating sites including UC, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Colorado. The study is being funded by Baszucki Group.
For more information on the trial, please contact Cathy Bailey at 513-558-4731.
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A version of this story was originally published by UCLA Health.
Featured photo at top of foods that are part of a ketogenic diet. Photo/Nadiia Borovenko/iStock Photo.
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