ArticleNeurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology2021
Effectiveness of ketogenic diet in treatment of patients with refractory chronic migraine.
Article in Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, 2021. 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 33 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.
KETOMIGRAINE: "Ketogenic Diet in Patients With Drug-resistant Chronic Migraine, "Non-responder" to Treatment With Monoclonal Antibody Targetting CGRP Pathway: a Pilot Study, Open Label"
Unraveling the Spectrum of Migraine Resistant to Treatments: Searching for Novel Biological PHEnotypes and theRApeutic Approaches (SPHERA Project)
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bibliometric analysis of ketogenic diet for pain based on dual databases: global trends and research hotspots from the Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus (2006-2025).Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of Dietary Patterns on Migraine Management: Mechanisms of Action and Recent Literature Insights.Brain and behavior · 2025Pooled 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
- Dyslipidemia is a metabolic hallmark of acute pain in sickle cell disease.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Dietary Modulation of Migraine: Metabolic, Neuroinflammatory and Microbiota-Mediated Mechanisms.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Association between carbohydrate consumption and self-assessed severe headache or migraine among American adults.Journal of nutritional science · 2026Article
- Food in Migraine Management: Dietary Interventions in the Pathophysiology and Prevention of Headaches-A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2025Review
- The Hypometabolic State of the Migraine Brain: Is a Ketogenic Diet the Answer?Brain and behavior · 2025Review
- The Long-Term Treatment of Drug-Resistant Migraine with the Modified Atkins Ketogenic Diet: A Single-Center, Retrospective Study.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Ketogenic Diet Improves Sleep Quality and Daytime Sleepiness in Chronic Migraine: A Pilot Study.Neurology international · 2024Article
- The Evidence for Diet as a Treatment in Migraine-A Review.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Association of dietary and lifestyle inflammation score (DLIS) with chronic migraine in women: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The Effect of Three Different Ketogenic Diet Protocols on Migraine and Fatigue in Chronic and High-Frequency Episodic Migraine: A Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2023Article
- 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
- The Relationship of Ketogenic Diet with Neurodegenerative and Psychiatric Diseases: A Scoping Review from Basic Research to Clinical Practice.Nutrients · 2023Article
- 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
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background and purposeKetogenic diet (KD) is based on restriction of carbohydrate intake. Metabolism is forced to obtain energy starting from β-oxidation of fatty acids which, turned into ketone bodies, can also be used by central nervous system (CNS). KD use in treatment of chronic migraine has recently been considered. We set out to verify modification of symptoms in patients with refractory chronic migraine in response to KD.
methodsFifty patients were enrolled of which 38 completed the procedures the study and 23 were considered in the statistics. All of the patients considered in our study were affected by medication overuse headache (MOH). They were on a KD for 3 months. The following parameters have been checked at t = 0 and every 30 days for 6 months: migraine episode length (n. hours/day), frequency (n. days/month), level of pain of every episode measured on a scale from 1 to 3 (1 = mild; 2 = moderate; 3 = severe), and n. analgesic drugs taken/month.
resultsDays with symptoms decreased from 30 (median value) to 7.5 with p < 0.0001. The duration of the migraine episodes decreased from 24 h (median value) to 5.5 h with p < 0.0016. The patients' pain level, initially at maximum value for 83% of the participants, improved for 55% of them (p < 0.0024). The number of drugs taken in a month decreased from 30 doses (median value) to 6 doses.
conclusionsIt can be stated that a 3-month KD resulted in a reduction of painful symptoms of drug refractory chronic migraine. This result may suggest an improvement in quality of life of the patients, even without a tabulated data collection.
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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.