• Posted September 12, 2025

Can A Keto Diet Help Treat Depression?

A “keto” diet might help people with depression, a small-scale pilot study suggests.

Depression symptoms decreased by about 70% among a small group of college students who followed a ketogenic diet for at least 10 weeks, researchers reported in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

“So many people are suffering right now, so it’s rewarding to potentially bring forward a solution,” said lead researcher Jeff Volek, a professor of human sciences at Ohio State University in Columbus.

“There is more science yet to do, but because there is evidence of a benefit, expanding accessibility to a well-formulated ketogenic diet as an augmentation to treatment for depression is something to think about,” he said in a news release.

Ketogenic diets focus on replacing carbohydrates with fats, so that the body starts burning fats for fuel rather than blood sugar, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Ketones are the energy-providing acids released by fats that the body and brain start using as fuel as an alternative to glucose, researchers said. When the body has adapted to using ketones, it is said to have entered a state of nutritional ketosis.

For the new study, 24 college students with diagnosed depression were asked to adopt a keto diet. Of those, 16 completed the entire study.

In the diet, they were asked to consume fewer than 50 grams of carbs per day, combined with higher fat and moderate protein intake.

“It was very important to make sure participants knew what they were getting themselves into,” lead researcher Drew Decker, a graduate student in Volek’s lab, said in a news release.

“A big part of increasing chances for adherence to the diet was talking to each individual about what they like and don’t like to eat so we could tailor some suggestions for how they could structure their diet,” Decker added.

During their diet, the participants repeatedly filled out questionnaires used to diagnose depression, researchers said.

“One of the things we really wanted to make sure of is that we were providing a treatment for people who met the diagnostic criteria for having major depressive disorder,” researcher Jennifer Cheavens, a professor of clinical psychology at Ohio State, said in a news release. “Each participant had about a 2 1/2-hour interview at the beginning, and then weekly assessments of their symptoms.”

The study participants achieved ketosis 73% of the time, blood tests showed.

After about three months, the participants’ self-reported depression scores had improved by 69%, and therapist-rated assessments of their depression improved by 71%, results showede.

“The average effect size for medications and counseling after 12 weeks is about 50%, and we saw a substantially greater result,” said researcher Dr. Ryan Patel, a psychiatrist at Ohio State’s Office of Student Life Counseling and Consultation Service.

“That is an impressive finding, that across the board, in this real-world setting, everybody got better, and across the board, our participants did not need more treatment or emergency intervention,” Patel added in a news release.

The participants also lost an average of 11 pounds and more than 2% of their body fat, but experienced no significant changes in their cholesterol levels, researchers said.

Researchers said ketosis could be helping the students’ depression by altering levels of proteins and brain chemicals related to emotional disorders.

However, this study did not compare students following a keto diet to those who weren’t, so more investigation is needed to validate this approach, researchers said. Future studies also should involve more people, they said.

More information

The Cleveland Clinic has more on the keto diet.

SOURCE: Ohio State University, news release, Sept. 9, 2025