RFK Jr touts' keto diet as cure for schizophrenia

[Coldwater]

A low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet might cure schizophrenia and other psychological disorders, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy said during a speech in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday that a ketogenic diet, more commonly known as keto, can cure schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The brief comment in his 20-minute address, alongside Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, came as Kennedy touted the Trump administration’s new Dietary Guidelines for Americans document, which sets the food policy for federally funded nutrition programs such as food stamps and school lunches.

Link

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/rfk-jr-touts-keto-diet-as-cure-for-schizophrenia/ar-AA1VFGdc

[Coldwater]

1. More Good Advice from RFK Jr

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Doesn't seem to be working for you, Spunky!

[Goonch]

3. ;-{)

[C_U_L8R]

4. The massive stroke you get

…will surely kill off one of your selves.

[TommieMommy]

5. No no no 😧 holy crap what the hell 🙄

[bucolic_frolic]

6. No. Just simply no.

Is it a war on psychology to boost preachers? Using food as a cure for everything while they pollute us to death with deregulation?

Mediterranean diet for longevity. Keto diet has side effects. All that fat for heart disease, cancer, and kidney stress.

[Phoenix61]

7. A ketogenic diet can help with epilepsy but how he

concluding it would work for mental health conditions is bonkers.

[Ms. Toad]

11. Read the article - it is currently being researched,

With some preliminary success.

[Phoenix61]

15. Nothing in the article suggests a cure.

They all had a metabolic disorder.
“On average, the participants improved 31% on a psychiatrist rating of mental illness known as the clinical global impressions scale, with three-quarters of the group showing clinically meaningful improvement.”
75% of 31% is not a cure. The scale is an observation scale and this wasn’t a double blind study so the psychiatrist knew they were part of the study. Interesting and worth further study, absolutely, a cure, definitely not.

[Ms. Toad]

16. I didn't say I it was a cure

I said there was some preliminary success

A small pilot study in 2024 from Stanford Medicine, examining 21 adult patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, found that they had significant improvements in their mental illness symptoms after following a keto-based diet.

And that it is being researched

Research physicians at Massachusetts General Brigham in Boston are currently soliciting new patients to conduct a clinical trial on using keto diets for people with bipolar I disorder or schizoaffective disorder.

Neither Stanford nor Mass General are quack facilities. RFK Jr certainly is a quack - but that doesn't mean that every single thing he says is deserving of knee jerk ridicule.

[Phoenix61]

20. Except 21 didn't have significant improvement.

75% of (31% of 21) = 75% of 6.5 = 4.8. That’s a little less than a quarter. How much of that is the Hawthorn Effect? I’ll wait for a double-blind peer reviewed study before I think much of anything about this.

[Ms. Toad]

23. My entire point is that the medical community is not dismissing it out of hand,

As you did in the post to which I responded.

[Phoenix61]

29. I didn't dismiss it out of hand.

I’m all for pursuing further research. My point was it’s no where near “ A cure for schizophrenia” status.

[Sparkly]

31. I see an msn article quoting RFK Jr. and Drumpf

Is there a conclusive scientific study buried in there?

[Ms. Toad]

37. I did not say there was a conclusive study buried there.

I said there was currently being researched, with some indication of success. If you read the article, you see there were positive case studies by Stanford (some indication of success), and Mass General is recruiting for a pilot study (research being done).

I was responding to someone who suggested it was bonkers to suggest it might help mental health. Apparently researchers at some big name institutions don't believe it is bonkers.

[3catwoman3]

8. Is there a diet to cure whatever...

…the bloody fucking hell is wrong with him?

[Pizza slice]

9. No food, no water ever again

That’ll fix it

[Ms. Toad]

10. Did anyone bother to read the article before condemning the idea?

This is something being researched, with some preliminary success.

[Samael13]

32. I read it and condemn it and dismiss it

I'm a bipolar schizophrenic and I deal with enough issues with people telling me what I need to do to feel better. This idiot parroting a study thats dubious at best and calling it a cure does nothing but hurt me.

[Ms. Toad]

35. So you're happy with the treatments available, and don't believe

that research being done by Mass General and Stanford is worth pursuing, simply because you are learning about it from an idiot?

Just as a point of reference, one of the most promising treatments for a rare disease my daughter has (which currently has zero approved treatments) is being dismissed as stupid and worthless because the doctor who discovered it was a pediatrician who is not a researcher by profession. In the two decades since she discovered the link there have been dozens of studies - all supporting what started as a series of case studies - and it is still not an approved treatment. I have little tolerance for rejecting, out of hand, ideas simply because one of the proponents isn't deemed worthy of respect.

[Samael13]

39. Im okay right now yes

If it shows anything close to real results which at the moment it really hasn't id be happy to admit im wrong. But this isn't the first time doctors have tried to diet away mental health issues and it ended badly for us

[Ms. Toad]

40. I'm on the flip side of that equation -

People tried to diet away ulcers, and laughed off the initial discovery that nearly all ulcers have a bacterial cause. My daughter's rare condition has some similarities to ulcers (it ulcerates and scars parts of the GI system). People have had remarkable results using antibiotics (remission, in some cases reverses of scaring - and every study has had neutral to positive results) - yet people are laughing it off as ridiculous and dangerous - while alterations of diet are more accepted (even though there is strong evidence that, aside from isolated cases where something specific in diet is a trigger, diet plays little to no role).

With schizophrenia you have the "luxury" that it is at least a relatively common condition. There are currently treatment options. My daughter's condition is so rare that there aren't treatment options (short of a transplant - and then it recurs) and not enough money to be made on any newly discovered treatments so no substantial research is going on. We have to pay a lot more attention to not-really-ready-for-prime-time evidence to have the best chance of survival.

I'm glad you have something that is working for you!

[Samael13]

42. I hope one day they find and make a treatment readily and easily available for your daughter

[Ms. Toad]

44. Thank you!

We had hopes when a cure was found for hepatitis C, and all those liver researchers needed a new place to turn their energy . . . but that has been years and they are still touting the same drugs which were in trial when she was diagnosed 17 years ago as promising/new hope on the horizon.

[bif]

12. Frikken nuts

[Norbert]

13. I like and have followed (mostly) the Keto diet

and have dropped 20 pounds. I must restart it more vigorously.

Using Keto to cure schizophrenia is ... how can I say this ... CRAZY.

[Ms. Toad]

17. Tell that to Mass General - which is currently recruiting for a pilot study. n/t

[struggle4progress]

14. ... an unfounded claim that experts say vastly overstates preliminary research

into whether the high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet might help patients with the disorder ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/us/politics/kennedy-keto-diet-schizophrenia.html

When I need medical advice, I also ask a former pusher with a history of heroin addiction and parasitic b rain infections!

[mr715]

18. Forgive me, but thats crazy.

[sakabatou]

19. And idiots will lap it up

[iemanja]

21. This is dangerous

like so much else RFJ jr does. His goal is to wipe out Americans.

[mucholderthandirt]

22. Keto can do some amazing things, even improve some mental health, but it can't do that.

This guy is a dumbass. Typical MAGA stupidity and insanity. We need to turn about half the country into a walled mental asylum and send them all there for life. No contact, no help, just close them in and let nature take her course.

[haele]

24. Mental health is affected by many different issues depending on the individual...

I live with 4 genetically similar people who have functionally affective neuro-divergence along ADHD and Autism spectrum and rapid-cycle bipolar. Each has episodes that are triggered by different situations, have different symptomatic conditions. Three are medicated, and each react differently to various types of medication; and two have been on keto diets in the past - and other than the physical benefits of the weight loss, less stress on joints that resulted in less pain, and lower A1Cs, there was no noticeable change to their conditions that warrented a change in medication.
Now, Metformin, a blood sugar medication often used by people who do keto for weight loss or health reasons, has been found to be useful in treating the brain fog of Long COVID, along with some neurological problems (like Alzheimer's) related to plaque concentration in the brain. And I'll only say that because there's been several years of study, the reasons and environment in which the drug would be effective was modeled and tested, and several thousand participants tested before this was announced.
On edit...
But that doesn't make what works in some people the be-all/cure-all. And what's very telling is that they're still in early testing of this expanded hypothesis.
Only snake oil influencers looking to make a buck announce a "break through" in early tests.

[Jacson6]

25. Is there a cure for stupidity? n/t

[Klarkashton]

27. No.

[Klarkashton]

26. Maybe he needs to face "retribution" after this shit.

[Permanut]

28. Before forming a conclusion about these claims.

I will carefully consider RFK Jr.s credentials - his training, accomplishments and experience in the field of medicine.

[Takket]

30. let's not lose sight......

as we all look on with outrage as ICE thugs murder Americans in cold blood in broad daylight, that among drmupf's cabinet members, no one is going to kill more Americans and immigrants alike than RFK, and it isn't even close.

[niyad]

33. That is why a friend who is on the keto diiet is experiencing

extreme bipolar episodes, yes?

[Zackzzzz]

34. Oh, if it were only that simple.

[Initech]

36. I truly hate the wellness industry with every micro fiber of my being.

It's because of this bullshit that nearly 1,000,000 people died from COVID and people reject science for wellness garbage.

[Skittles]

38. gawd, not that Keto bullshit

what a fucking quack he is

[La Coliniere]

41. I believe a keto diet is a very effective way to lose weight fast.

I know. Many years ago I was on it once for about 6 months, when it was simply called a low carb diet, and lost most of my body fat and dropped over 30 lbs. But I don’t believe it’s a healthy diet to remain on once the weight is lost. I’ve been a vegetarian since then, mostly vegan in the past 10 years and have kept most of that weight off over all the subsequent years. I read the study and think it’s too preliminary to make any assumptions about a keto diet curing schizophrenia. That’s ridiculous.

[Coldwater]

43. Congratulations on your weight loss

RFK, Jr. claims the keto diet can cure schizophrenia, and yet preliminary studies suggest that a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet could reduce schizophrenia symptoms in some people, but claiming it’s a cure is misleading.