Researchers explore ketogenic diet’s effects on bipolar disorder among adolescents and young adults
UC part of national pilot study led by UCLA Health, funded by Baszucki Group
The University of Cincinnati is set to be a site for a pilot study led by UCLA Health to explore whether a ketogenic diet, in combination with standard pharmacological treatment, can improve symptoms in adolescents and young adults with bipolar disorder.
Melissa DelBello, MD. Photo/University of Cincinnati.
While preliminary research suggests ketogenic therapy has a beneficial impact on psychiatric and metabolic function in adults with bipolar disorder, this will be the first study to examine the effectiveness and feasibility of this adjunctive therapy on mental health in this population.
Set to begin in March, the pilot study will recruit participants aged 12-21 with bipolar 1, bipolar 2, or unspecified bipolar disorders. The approximately 40 enrolled participants will follow a 16-week ketogenic program while continuing their prescribed mood stabilizing medications. The partnering researchers will be providing the food to participants at no charge. All participants will work with registered dietitians, psychiatrists, and psychologists affiliated with the study.
To assess the impact of the intervention, independent evaluators will conduct monthly psychiatric assessments, including measures of depression, mania, anxiety, psychosis, psychosocial functioning and quality of life. Additionally, participants will provide daily blood fingerprick ketone measures to measure metabolic changes.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to conduct a pilot study examining the feasibility and mood stabilizing effects of this innovative strategy for adolescents and young adults living with bipolar spectrum disorders,” said Melissa DelBello, MD, site principal investigator, Dr. Stanley and Mickey Kaplan professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in UC’s College of Medicine and a UC Health physician.
David Miklowitz, PhD, national principal investigator and distinguished professor of psychiatry in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, said that if the pilot study shows the diet to be feasible in young people with bipolar disorder, further research would be needed to test the effects of the ketogenic therapy against a comparison treatment, such as a non-ketogenic Mediterranean diet.
UC’s Luis Rodrigo Patino Duran, MD, will serve as a site co-investigator. UCLA Health will serve as the coordinating research site, with the other participating sites including UC, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Colorado. The study is being funded by Baszucki Group.
For more information on the trial, please contact Cathy Bailey at 513-558-4731.
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
A version of this story was originally published by UCLA Health.
Featured photo at top of foods that are part of a ketogenic diet. Photo/Nadiia Borovenko/iStock Photo.
Related Stories
UC researcher to launch national study with $2.5 million NIH grant
October 9, 2026
A University of Cincinnati researcher has received a $2.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to conduct research during the next five years. Natalie Kreitzer, MD, a University of Cincinnati College of Medicine physician-researcher, received an R01 independent research grant from the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The funding will support a test program for caregivers of patients with traumatic brain injury, as reported by the Cincinnati Business Courier.
Lighting up the skyline for Blink
October 9, 2026
A team of University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music students designed “Echoes of Light,” a music-and-light installation on Ohio’s largest mural for BLINK, Cincinnati’s massive public light and art festival.
Simple ways to find a deeper sense of happiness and well being
October 8, 2026
UC assistant professor Suzie White, featured in an AARP story on practical ways to live a happier, healthier life, shared research-backed strategies for increasing well-being through gratitude and service to others. White teaches Happiness in Action, a course that helps students apply the science of happiness in everyday life.