In adults with treatment-resistant depression, a ketogenic diet does not reduce depression symptoms more than a placebo after 6 weeks or after 12 weeks.
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A ketogenic diet has no clinically significant effect on depression symptoms in adults with treatment-resistant depression beyond placebo at 6 weeks and no effect at 12 weeks.
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When the body burns fat instead of sugar for fuel, it produces ketones that replace glucose as the brain’s energy source. This change does not alter brain reward signals, stress hormone levels, or brain inflammation enough to improve depression symptoms in people who have not responded to other treatments.
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