Episode Details

How can doctors, psychiatrists, and other health practitioners implement keto for serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression?

In this short interview, Dr. Bret Scher sits down with Dr. Georgia Ede to discuss a newly published Delphi consensus paper in Frontiers in Nutrition, authored by eight experienced clinicians and researchers to establish best practices for the use of ketogenic metabolic therapy (KMT) in serious mental illnesses.

Using a structured expert consensus process, the group created 33 statements clarifying things like:

1. What ketogenic metabolic therapy is
2. Who may be appropriate candidates?
3. Safety considerations and medical screening
4. Monitoring standards and clinical implementation
5. How KMT can be integrated alongside standard psychiatric care

These statements were then brought to a larger group of experienced clinicians to assess broader consensus, which resulted in all 33 statements reaching the consensus threshold.

This paper is not a set of formal treatment guidelines. Instead, they represent an important first step in delivering practical, experience-informed guidance for clinicians who are seeing growing patient interest in metabolic approaches to serious mental illness

As research continues to evolve, this consensus provides a thoughtful framework for psychiatrists, primary care clinicians, therapists, dietitians, and multidisciplinary teams who wish to incorporate ketogenic metabolic therapy into individualized treatment plans.

If you are a clinician interested in learning more about metabolic approaches in psychiatry, we encourage you to explore the full publication.

If you are a patient or family member, consider sharing this paper with your care team to start an informed discussion about whether metabolic strategies may be appropriate in your individual case.

With the clinical evidence still accumulating and randomized controlled trials ongoing, we expect this clinical guidance to continue to evolve as more data and real word experience becomes available.

📚 Read the Paper: Published in Frontiers in Nutrition: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2026.1749406

#MetabolicMind #KetogenicTherapy #MetabolicPsychiatry

🔎 Have questions about how to apply metabolic therapies effectively? Submit them at metabolicmind.org/questions to be featured in a future Metabolic Mailbag episode.

Expert Featured:

Dr. Georgia Ede

1. Harvard-Trained Psychiatrist
2. https://www.diagnosisdiet.com/

Dr. Bret Scher

1. Baszucki Group Medical Director
2. https://x.com/bschermd

Resources Mentioned:

Awareness and Best Practices in using Ketogenic Therapy to Treat Serious Mental Illness: A Modified Delphi Consensus

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