ArticleBMC neurology2019
A ketogenic diet normalizes interictal cortical but not subcortical responsivity in migraineurs.
Article in BMC neurology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03775252 (A Ketogenic Diet Normalizes Interictal Cortical But Not Subcortical Responsivity in Migraineurs), which is not on this map. Cited by 22 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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 Ketogenic Diet Normalizes Interictal Cortical But Not Subcortical Responsivity in Migraineurs
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of Dietary Patterns on Migraine Management: Mechanisms of Action and Recent Literature Insights.Brain and behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Pain-related evoked potentials with concentric surface electrodes in patients and healthy subjects: a systematic review.Brain structure & function · 2023Pooled it
- Ketosis and migraine: a systematic review of the literature and meta-analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Ketogenic diet in refractory migraine: possible efficacy and role of ketone bodies-a pilot experience.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2022Trial
- A Randomized Double-Blind, Cross-Over Trial of very Low-Calorie Diet in Overweight Migraine Patients: A Possible Role for Ketones?Nutrients · 2019Trial
- Metabolic Dysfunction and Dietary Interventions in Migraine Management: The Role of Insulin Resistance and Neuroinflammation-A Narrative and Scoping Review.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- The Long-Term Treatment of Drug-Resistant Migraine with the Modified Atkins Ketogenic Diet: A Single-Center, Retrospective Study.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Hallmarks of primary headache: part 1 - migraine.The journal of headache and pain · 2024Review
- Article
- A 1-month ketogenic diet in patients with migraine gives a clinical beneficial effect associated with increased latency of somatosensory thalamo-cortical activity.Clinical neurophysiology practice · 2024Article
- 2:1 ketogenic diet and low-glycemic-index diet for the treatment of chronic and episodic migraine: a single-center real-life retrospective study.The journal of headache and pain · 2023Article
- Ketolysis is required for the proper development and function of the somatosensory nervous system.Experimental neurology · 2023Article
- Habituation to Pain in Patients with Chronic Pain: Clinical Implications and Future Directions.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Emerging Nonpharmacologic Interventions to Treat Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy.Antioxidants & redox signaling · 2023Review
- Ketolysis is Required for the Proper Development and Function of the Somatosensory Nervous System.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Migraine Prevention through Ketogenic Diet: More than Body Mass Composition Changes.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Can Ketogenic Diet Therapy Improve Migraine Frequency, Severity and Duration?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Applications of Ketogenic Diets in Patients with Headache: Clinical Recommendations.Nutrients · 2021Review
- Pathophysiological Bases of Comorbidity in Migraine.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Review
- Lifestyle Modifications to Help Prevent Headache at a Developmental Age.Frontiers in neurology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA short ketogenic diet (KD) treatment can prevent migraine attacks and correct excessive cortical response. Here, we aim to prove if the KD-related changes of cortical excitability are primarily due to cerebral cortex activity or are modulated by the brainstem.
methodsThrough the stimulation of the right supraorbital division of the trigeminal nerve, we concurrently interictally recorded the nociceptive blink reflex (nBR) and the pain-related evoked potentials (PREP) in 18 migraineurs patients without aura before and after 1-month on KD, while in metabolic ketosis. nBR and PREP reflect distinct brain structures activation: the brainstem and the cerebral cortex respectively. We estimated nBR R2 component area-under-the-curve as well as PREP amplitude habituation as the slope pof the linear regression between the 1st and the 2nd block of 5 averaged responses.
resultsFollowing 1-month on KD, the mean number of attacks and headache duration reduced significantly. Moreover, KD significantly normalized the interictal PREP habituation (pre: + 1.8, post: - 9.1, p = 0.012), while nBR deficit of habituation did not change.
conclusionsThe positive clinical effects we observed in a population of migraineurs by a 1-month KD treatment coexists with a normalization at the cortical level, not in the brainstem, of the typical interictal deficit of habituation. These findings suggest that the cerebral cortex may be the primary site of KD-related modulation.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03775252 (retrospectively registered, December 09, 2018).
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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.