Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Medindia

Get Treated for Schizophrenia Through a Fat-Rich Diet

by Reshma Anand on Dec 19 2015 12:15 PM

Get Treated for Schizophrenia Through a Fat-Rich Diet
A low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet called as “ketogenic diet” is gaining much popularity among athletes in the recent years. This same diet may also help in treating schizophrenia, revealed a new study.
Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder that causes side effects of movement disorder, weight gain and cardiovascular disease in the affected individuals.

Researchers from the James Cook University (JCU) in Australia have reported that feeding mice with ketogenic diet lead to fewer animal behaviors that resemble schizophrenia.

”The diet may work by providing alternative energy sources in the form of so-called ketone bodies (products of fat breakdown) and by helping to circumvent abnormally functioning cellular energy pathways in the brains of schizophrenics,” said one of the researchers Zoltan Sarnyai from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia.

"Most of a person's energy would come from fat. So the diet would consist of butter, cheese, salmon, etc. Initially it would be used in addition to medication in an in-patient setting where the patient's diet could be controlled," Sarnyai explained.

The study also showed mice on a ketogenic diet weigh less and have lower blood glucose levels than mice fed a normal diet. The findings were published in the Journal Schizophrenia Research.

“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,” Sarnyai added.

Advertisement
Source-Medindia


Advertisement