Abstract
The ketogenic diet consists of a high fat, low carbohydrate content that has been used as a less invasive “natural” therapy to help treat several neurological and neurodegenerative disorders. In recent years, use of the ketogenic diet has been lauded for its ability to promote weight loss, however its longest standing benefits have typically been attributed to its anticonvulsant effects in helping to treat refractive, childhood and other subtypes of epilepsy. Partly due to these qualities, implementation of the ketogenic diet has been investigated as a possible treatment for several other neurological and neurodegenerative diseases, and indeed has shown several notable improvements in certain outcome measures. For example, implementation of the ketogenic diet and establishment of ketosis may be an alternative form of energy provided for neurological tissue during states of degeneration such as glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, and other retinal degenerative diseases. The several proposed neuroprotective mechanisms induced by the ketogenic diet include promotion of antioxidant responses, facilitation of anti-inflammatory responses after injury, promotion of ATP production, and more. Utilization of this diet has also produced favorable outcomes in other neurodegenerative disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and CNS injuries including spinal cord injury and cerebral ischemia/stroke. The purpose of this review is to summarize the results from these studies as well as the underlying mechanisms involved and to ultimately provide an up to date and comprehensive view of the effectiveness of the ketogenic diet as a neuroprotective therapy.