Keto Diet Protects Developing Brain from Womb Stress

A ketogenic diet in early life may protect against long-term emotional and behavioral effects of stress experienced in the womb.

Highlights:

Ketogenic diet shields young rats from lifelong stress effects caused by prenatal trauma
Male and female brains benefit through distinct biological mechanisms
Offers potential for early nutritional prevention of mood and social disorders

A ketogenic diet (KD)—high in fats and low in carbohydrates—may help protect the brain from the lingering psychological effects of prenatal stress, according to new research presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) 2025 conference in Amsterdam ().

The study, led by Dr. Alessia Marchesin and her team from the University of Milan, revealed that young rats exposed to stress in the womb but later fed a ketogenic diet were largely shielded from emotional and behavioral problems that typically follow prenatal trauma.

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What a mother experiences during pregnancy can shape her child's mental health - but a high-fat #KetogenicDiet may help shield developing brains from prenatal #stress. #MentalHealth #NutritionalPsychiatry #Medindia

How Stress in the Womb Shapes the Brain

An extensive body of evidence shows that maternal stress during pregnancy can have profound and lasting effects on offspring—ranging from anxiety and depression to social withdrawal and cognitive challenges. To test whether diet could help reverse these effects, researchers subjected pregnant rats to mild stress during the last week of gestation. Once born, the offspring were weaned after 21 days and assigned either a standard control diet or a ketogenic diet.

By day 42, the young rats were tested for social behavior, motivation, and pleasure-seeking tendencies—markers often disturbed by prenatal stress. Those on the ketogenic diet showed higher sociability, longer grooming times, and less apathy compared to their control-diet peers.

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Striking Differences in Brain Resilience

The results were striking: among rats born to stressed mothers, half of those fed a regular diet developed behavioral problems. But in the ketogenic group, only 22% of males and 12% of females showed similar symptoms. According to Dr. Marchesin, “The ketogenic diet acted like a shield for their developing brains, preventing social and motivational problems from taking root.”

The diet’s known ability to enhance mitochondrial efficiency, improve hormone balance, and reduce inflammation likely contributes to this neuroprotective effect. Interestingly, males and females appeared to benefit through different mechanisms—males by lowering inflammation, and females by strengthening antioxidant defences.

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Could Diet Help Prevent Mood Disorders in Humans?

Dr. Marchesin suggests that these findings may have implications far beyond laboratory rats. “If similar results hold true in humans, simple dietary adjustments early in life could reduce the long-term burden of prenatal stress,” she said. This could represent a major shift in mental health prevention—focusing on early nutritional interventions instead of waiting for symptoms to appear and then relying on medications with side effects.

However, she also cautioned that the ketogenic-fed animals grew more slowly than controls, raising questions about whether calorie restriction itself contributed to the benefits. Further, sex-specific biological responses need deeper study before applying this approach to humans.

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Experts See Promise in Nutritional Psychiatry

Commenting on the findings, Dr. Aniko Korosi from the University of Amsterdam noted, “This work beautifully adds to the growing field of Nutritional Psychiatry, highlighting how what we eat can shape our mental health trajectories.” She emphasized that more research is needed to identify which nutrients, at what stage of development, and in which individuals, are most effective in promoting brain resilience.

From Lab to Life: A Hopeful Future

While this was an animal study that still needs confirmation in humans, it offers a promising path toward preventing stress-related mental health disorders through diet. If future trials validate these findings, clinicians could one day use targeted nutrition to protect at-risk children from developing lifelong mood and social difficulties.

The study also underscores a growing realization in neuroscience—that the gut and brain are deeply interconnected, and what nourishes one profoundly affects the other.

Reference:

Does Ketogenic Diet Used in Pregnancy Affect the Nervous System Development in Offspring?-FTIR Microspectroscopy Study - (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10401638/)

Source-Medindia