ReviewBehavioural pharmacology2006
Neuroprotective and disease-modifying effects of the ketogenic diet.
Review in Behavioural pharmacology, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 203 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Phase II Study of the Ketogenic Diet in Children With Malignant or Recurrent/Refractory Brain Tumor
Ketogenic Diet Interventions in Parkinson's Disease: Safeguarding the Gut Microbiome
Who cites it
203 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 453 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of ketogenic diet on adipokines levels: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials.Acta diabetologica · 2024Pooled it
- The Efficacy of Ketogenic Therapies in the Clinical Management of People with Neurodegenerative Disease: A Systematic Review.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Intravenous β-Hydroxybutyrate Use in Humans - A Promising Future Therapy?Frontiers in medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- To Keto or Not to Keto? A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials Assessing the Effects of Ketogenic Therapy on Alzheimer Disease.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2020Pooled it
- Stroke outcome in the ketogenic state--a systematic review of the animal data.Journal of neurochemistry · 2012Pooled it
- An fMRI Investigation into the Effects of Ketogenic Medium-Chain Triglycerides on Cognitive Function in Elderly Adults: A Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2021Trial
- Evolution of Energy Related Metabolites in Plasma from Newborns with Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy during Hypothermia Treatment.Scientific reports · 2017Trial
- Article
- Ketogenic Diet and Brain Health: Cerebrovascular Mechanisms, Neuroprotection, and Translational Implications.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Effects of a maternal ketogenic diet on maternal and offspring metabolic health in mice.PloS one · 2026Article
- Harnessing metabolic control for synaptic stability: REST/NRSF links glycolytic inhibition to excitatory neurotransmission.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Hippocampal CaMKII-α β-hydroxybutyrylation induces memory deficits in mice with type 1 diabetes mellitus.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Chronic Ketosis Provides Neuroprotection Through HIF- 1α-Mediated Control of the TXNIP/NLRP3 Axis by Regulating the Inflammatory and Apoptotic Response.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Time restricted feeding with or without ketosis influences metabolism-related gene expression in a tissue-specific manner in aged rats.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Traumatic spinal cord injury: a review of the current state of art and future directions - what do we know and where are we going?North American Spine Society journal · 2025Article
- Anthropometric Trajectories and Dietary Compliance During a Personalized Ketogenic Program.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Decoding Microglial Polarization and Metabolic Reprogramming in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Implications for Disease Progression and Therapy.Aging and disease · 2025Review
- Gut Microbiome, Diet and Depression: Literature Review of Microbiological, Nutritional and Neuroscientific Aspects.Current nutrition reports · 2025Review
- Impact of the Ketogenic Diet on Neurological Diseases: A Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
143 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The ketogenic diet has been in clinical use for over 80 years, primarily for the symptomatic treatment of epilepsy. A recent clinical study has raised the possibility that exposure to the ketogenic diet may confer long-lasting therapeutic benefits for patients with epilepsy. Moreover, there is evidence from uncontrolled clinical trials and studies in animal models that the ketogenic diet can provide symptomatic and disease-modifying activity in a broad range of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, and may also be protective in traumatic brain injury and stroke. These observations are supported by studies in animal models and isolated cells that show that ketone bodies, especially beta-hydroxybutyrate, confer neuroprotection against diverse types of cellular injury. This review summarizes the experimental, epidemiological and clinical evidence indicating that the ketogenic diet could have beneficial effects in a broad range of brain disorders characterized by the death of neurons. Although the mechanisms are not yet well defined, it is plausible that neuroprotection results from enhanced neuronal energy reserves, which improve the ability of neurons to resist metabolic challenges, and possibly through other actions including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. As the underlying mechanisms become better understood, it will be possible to develop alternative strategies that produce similar or even improved therapeutic effects without the need for exposure to an unpalatable and unhealthy, high-fat diet.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.