Dr Guido Frank discusses his research in the use of ketogenic diets to treat anorexia nervosa. Although, his research is at an early stage his results appear do appear promising.

Anorexia is a disease which is one of the hardest psychiatric conditions of all to treat with a depressingly high mortality rate, so this work is of huge potential interest. Up to now, there has been no effective treatment for the disease and no medication has ever been approved for it. 

Guido believes the critical key to treatment may lie in uncovering what happens in the brain chemistry of anorexic patients when they starve themselves. He argues by stopping eating, they actually put themselves into a ketogenic state, which calms their brain and makes them less anxious. But this has the consequence of stopping them wanting to eat again. 

So Guido and his team wondered what would happen if they put anorexic patients into ketosis not by starvation, but  by feeding them a ketogenic diet.

In an initial small study five anorexic patients who had regained weight but still had major food anxieties and concerns, were put on a ketogenic diet. Normally, in patients like this the relapse rate is around 50%, but in this case, all four patients who remained on the diet stayed healthy and the researchers also saw a dramatic reduction in their eating concerns and phobias. And Guido is now in the process of recruiting patients for a new study.

So could this work offer a potentially successful approach to managing a  disease which has proved so intractable to treat?

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The host of the podcast, Liz Tucker is an award winning medical journalist and former BBC producer and director.  You can follow Liz on X and read further information about the podcast on her Substack newsletter.

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