Not surprising when you consider previously reported neurological impacts of a high fat-low carb diet

High fat-low carb diet may help to treat schizophrenia
Published Monday, December 21, 2015 7:08AM EST
CTV News

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/high-f...renia-1.2708425

Australian researchers have found that a high fat/low carb ketogenic diet, as favored by body-builders, may be effective in treating schizophrenia.

The ketogenic diet, which is high in fat and low in carbs, has most recently become popular with body-builders for weight loss; however, it has been used since the 1920s to manage epilepsy in children.

A team from James Cook University, Australia have now investigated the diet for its possible effectiveness in treating and managing schizophrenia.

The results of their study, published in the journal Schizophrenia Research, showed that feeding mice a ketogenic diet led to fewer animal behaviors that resemble schizophrenia. The mice also weighed less and had lower blood glucose levels than mice fed a normal diet.

The team believes that the diet may be effective because a ketogenic diet provides an alternative energy source for the brain, which could help neurotransmission and improve the neurobiological processes that underlie schizophrenia.

Lead author of the study, Zoltan Sarnyai, commented on the results saying that a "Ketogenic diet provides an alternative source of energy to the brain through fatty acids. Furthermore, since this diet is very low in carbohydrates, almost all the energy needs of the cells comes from breaking down fat (fatty acids) as opposed to glucose. This can circumvent the classic glucose metabolic pathways that maybe impaired in the disease."

In addition, the diet could increase levels of the brain chemical GABA, with low levels known to be a factor in various anxiety disorders, and possibly also an underlying factor in schizophrenia. Increased levels of GABA could also help to normalize the symptoms of schizophrenia, and is something that Professor Sarnyai is keen to investigate further.

A ketogenic diet for humans would consist of high-fat food sources such as butter, cheese, salmon, so most of the person's energy would come from fat. If prescribed to a patient, Professor Sarnyai said, "Initially it would be used in addition to medication in an in-patient setting where the patient's diet could be controlled."

And if the research is applied to humans, it may have secondary benefits in addition to treating schizophrenia. "It's another advantage that it works against the weight gain, cardiovascular issues and type-two diabetes we see as common side-effects of drugs given to control schizophrenia," said Dr. Sarnyai.

The team is now going to research the diet further, with the possibility of a clinical trial.

Schizophrenia is a chronic and disabling mental illness that, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, affects 1.1% of the U.S. population. Medications are available to treat and manage the disorder, but can come with unpleasant side effects, and there is currently no known cure.

Research published earlier this year found that omega-3, the fatty acid found in food such as oily fish, as well as other high-fat foods such as walnuts, may help to prevent the onset of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

The study gave young people who were at a very high risk of developing a psychotic disorder omega-3 supplements for a 12- week period.

The results, published in the journal Nature Communications, showed that they were less likely to develop a disorder for up to 7 years after taking the omega-3 when compared to a placebo group. However, the team also cautioned that more research is needed to replicate their findings, which used a relatively small group of 81 participants.

Many people on this forum have noted the healing they experienced, not just of the body, but also of the mind (mostly noted improvement of mood and loss of depression). It would be wonderful if such a terrible disease were also corrected by the LCHF WOE.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

If I am remembering correctly Dr Westman talks about a woman with long standing psychosis that disappeared after she started eating low carb. I am one of those people whose long standing major depression went away when I switched to a low carb diet. It's a better way to go than taking a pill and certainly for me much more successful with no bad side effects.

Jean

Dr. Richard MacKarness wrote an excellent book, Not All in the Mind (1976), about mental illnesses strongly controlled by dietary intolerances, which he studied in a mental hospital in Basingstoke. 40 years later we are reinventing the wheel.

Incidentally, his first book, Eat Fat and Grow Slim (1958), exposed the "calorie fallacy" and proposed a non-carbohydrate "Stone Age" diet of protein and fat with no restriction as to the amount eaten. He was a visionary, but only his patients and a few colleagues seemed to take him seriously.

Thank you Snoopy T443!

Good post. Our bodies/metabolisms were never designed, to operate at an optimum level, on all the artificial products regularly consumed today.

If everyone spent a whole year eating only natural food think what could be achieved! A lot of us on here may have to do without the majority of fruit and be careful with veg!
When you think about it, our eating has been taken over by big business and the government. All trying to lead and influence us I know that's a completely other thread
Choice, has been made unnecessarily complicated and confusing. Really it's quite simple, eat real food that suits our individual metabolisms.
Okay, I know I'm preaching to the converted

What about the weight gain, cardiovascular issues and type-two diabetes we see as common side-effects of the "normal" diet?

Well, we must go cautiously here, she said sarcastically. Much more study must be made before we take Twinkies off the table, but a drug that might help? Fast tracked!

I found some chapters online from the Eat Fat and Grow Slim book. It seems to be a very good read with excellent suggestions (he's British so some of the common foods and terms he uses aren't typical to US diet).

This chapter is very perceptive: http://www.ourcivilisation.com/fat/chap5.htm

Great find, and after reading around and following the links we come to the crux of LCHF eating. (pre-Atkins and everybody else except Banting.

If interested in reading more about Banting, follow this link to a 7-day free look inside. I found the video in the introduction particularly interesting, especially the part where Noakes states that if he were in the USA, he wouldn't be allowed to say what he was saying without losing all his funding and support. Also, there was an anecdote about how Proctor and Gamble transitioned from making candles to making seed oils.

Another good article about this study and others shared by Dr Westman:

http://www.celebrityhealthfitness.c...nd-weight-loss/

I remember reading a book about the supervisor of a boy's reformatory who did wonders by changing the diet served to the teens, removing all grains, dairy, and sugars.

Even with the certain complaints, most of the boys showed incredibly improved behaviors, and many of them said they felt they were thinking right for the first time in their lives.

He tried to interest others in his field, but they were afflicted with "That can't be right." And ignored him.