ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
Very-Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet: A Potential Treatment for Binge Eating and Food Addiction Symptoms in Women. A Pilot Study.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bariatric-Metabolic Surgery is the Most Effective Intervention in Reducing Food Addiction Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Obesity surgery · 2024Pooled it
- The Role of Gut Microbiota in the Pathogenesis of Obesity and Food Addiction: The Importance of the Gut-Brain Axis and the Dopaminergic System.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Link between emotional and external eating behaviors, peripheral neuropeptide Y, and β-hydroxybutyrate in participants with obesity on 12-week ketogenic diet.Nutrition and health · 2026Article
- The Ketogenic Diet in Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity: A Narrative Review of Clinical Evidence.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Changes in binge eating symptoms following an online community-based ultra-processed food addiction intervention: Liberate.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Integrating patient-reported weight gain cause narratives into personalized obesity management: a data-driven approach with natural language processing and machine learning.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Case management of ultra-processed food addiction: a theoretical perspective.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Advancing Obesity Management: the Very Low-Energy Ketogenic therapy (VLEKT) as an Evolution of the "Traditional" Ketogenic Diet.Current obesity reports · 2025Review
- Review
- A feasibility and acceptability study of liberate: an online, peer-supported, psychoeducational intervention for ultra processed food addiction.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Abstinence-based treatment of comorbid eating disorders and ultra-processed food addiction.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Ketogenic diet, adenosine, and dopamine in addiction and psychiatry.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Review
- Binge-type eating disorders and ultra-processed food addiction: phenomenology, pathophysiology and treatment implications.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Transdiagnostic remission of psychiatric comorbidity in post-traumatic stress disorder, ADHD, and binge-eating disorder using ketogenic metabolic therapy: a retrospective case report.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Article
- Understanding the experiences of ketogenic metabolic therapy for people living with varying levels of depressive symptoms: a thematic analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Hard stop: reestablishing the significance of abstinence in the treatment of late stage ultra-processed food addiction.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- The Relationship of Ketogenic Diet with Neurodegenerative and Psychiatric Diseases: A Scoping Review from Basic Research to Clinical Practice.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Study of Different Personalised Dietary Plans on Eating Behaviour, Body Image and Mood in Young Female Professional Handball Players: A Randomised Controlled Trial.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Clinical Considerations of Ultra-processed Food Addiction Across Weight Classes: an Eating Disorder Treatment and Care Perspective.Current addiction reports · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundmany patients who struggle to lose weight are unable to cut down certain ultra-processed, refined types of food with a high glycemic index. This condition is linked to responses similar to addiction that lead to overeating. A very-low-calorie ketogenic diet (VLCKD) with adequate protein intake could be considered a valid dietary approach. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of a VLCKD in women with binge eating and/or food addiction symptoms.
methodssubjects diagnosed with binge eating and/or food addiction symptoms (measured with the Binge Eating Scale and the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0) were asked to follow a VLCKD with protein replacement for 5-7 weeks (T1) and a low-calorie diet for 11-21 weeks (T2). Self-reported food addiction and binge eating symptoms and body composition were tested at T0 (baseline) and at the end of each diet (T1 and T2 respectively); Results: five women were included in the study. Mean age was 36.4 years (SEM = 4.95) and mean BMI was 31.16 (SEM = 0.91). At T0, two cases of severe food addiction, one case of mild food addiction, one case of binge eating with severe food addiction, and one case of binge eating were recorded. Weight loss was recorded at both T1 and T2 (ranging from 4.8% to 11.6% of the initial body weight at T1 and from 7.3% to 12.8% at T2). No case of food addiction and/or binge eating symptoms was recorded at T2. Muscle mass was preserved.
conclusionsrecent findings have highlighted the potential therapeutic role of ketogenic diets for the treatment of addiction to high-calorie, ultra-processed and high-glycemic food. Our pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of a ketogenic diet in women with addictive-like eating disorders seeking to lose weight.
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