A ketogenic diet helped three in four participants with anorexia nervosa drop below the diagnostic threshold in a small supervised study. Researchers monitored 22 women over 14 weeks at the University of California, San Diego. The findings suggest the approach may ease compulsive food restriction when combined with professional support.
Participants followed a high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet under the guidance of a dietitian, psychiatrist and peer counsellor. Eighteen women completed the full period. Thirteen of them showed enough improvement that they no longer met criteria for either anorexia or depression. Guido Frank, the lead researcher, noted that patients often describe their restrictive behaviour as an addiction. He said creating a similar metabolic state while ensuring adequate food intake could reduce that drive. The women remained in a healthy or slightly underweight body-mass range and did not relapse during the study. Sahib Khalsa of the University of California, Los Angeles, cautioned that larger randomised trials are still needed before changing standard treatment practices.
