Mental health on your plate.

Mental disorders are a growing crisis and are the leading cause of disability on the planet. Although there are many potential treatments, they fail to work for far too many people.

It has been clear for some time now that metabolic dysfunction and mental illness have some degree of relationship. As early as the 1800s, it was known that those suffering from psychiatric conditions were significantly more likely to develop diabetes (and vice versa); it was observed that these two disorders ran in the same families.

It becomes clear that metabolic dysfunction is a causal root for mental illness and unites the biological, psychological, and social theories between mental and physical health.

But what is metabolism?

Although many people think metabolism is “burning calories” and related to weight, it’s actually much more than that. Metabolism is the process that all living organisms use to convert food into energy or building blocks for proteins, membranes, and other cell parts. It is fundamental to the definition of life. When there are problems with metabolism, there will be problems in the way cells function.

The ketogenic diet (KD, also known as metabolic therapy) has been successful in the treatment of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and epilepsy for a long time now. More recently, this treatment has shown promise in the treatment of psychiatric illness.

The fact that these specially-formulated low-carbohydrate diets have the power to stop seizures in their tracks is concrete evidence that food has a tremendous impact on brain chemistry and should inspire curiosity about how they work.

Ketogenic diets have been around for about 100 years, and have proved to be invaluable tools in the treatment of stubborn neurological conditions.

Ketogenic diet is a diet (very) low in carbohydrates and relatively high in fat. The goal is to lower blood sugar and insulin levels; when these are nice and low, the body naturally turns to fat (instead of sugar) as its primary source of energy. Most ketogenic diets also limit protein (to no more than the body requires), because excess protein can raise blood sugar and insulin levels to some extent. Body fat and fat from the diet then break down into ketones, which travel through the bloodstream and can be burned by various cells throughout the body, including most brain cells. Ketone levels rise in the blood, urine and breath within days, and can be measured using various home test methods, but it can take weeks for the body to become efficient at burning fat for energy, and for full benefits to be realized. It remains unclear how ketogenic diets work to control seizures, let alone how they may improve psychiatric symptoms. On a fundamental level, it isn’t even clear whether it is the presence of ketones, the reduction in blood sugar, the reduction in insulin and other growth-promoting hormones, or the combination of all of these which are responsible for the brain-stabilizing effects of these diets. Theories abound, and include altered neurotransmitter levels, changes in electrolyte gradients (lower intracellular sodium and calcium), reduction in markers of inflammation, and improved mitochondrial function. The general consensus is that the brain functions more cleanly and efficiently when a significant portion of its energy comes from ketones, calming overactive and overly-reactive brain cells.