Mr. Kennedy was apparently referring to Dr. Christopher Palmer, who in 2019 wrote about “two patients with longstanding schizophrenia who experienced complete remission of symptoms” with the keto diet. He said both patients “were able to stop antipsychotic medications and have remained in remission for years now.”
More recently, Dr. Palmer and his colleagues described the diet as a “promising therapeutic approach for schizophrenia.” Dr. Palmer did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
February 6, 2026
"We now know that the things that you eat are driving mental illness in this country.... There are studies right now that I saw two days ago where people lose their bipolar diagnosis by changing their diet."
Said RFK Jr., quoted in "Kennedy Makes Unfounded Claim That Keto Diet Can ‘Cure’ Schizophrenia/The claim vastly overstates preliminary research into whether the high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet might help people with the disorder, experts said" (NYT).
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32 comments:
RFK is a bit of a crank, but he helped get trump elected, and Americans certainly eat too many carbs.
My goodness, the NYT certainly is getting snotty these days, putting all the 'without evidence' opinionated BS right up there in the headlines so we can all conform in advance.
“Unfounded claim,” indeed. Surely, Donald Trump has surpassed diet as the driving force for mental illness in this country among his political opponents.
IMO, Keto and Carnivore diets are excellent acute strategies for attacking obesity and chronic inflammation. They are not ideal for long term maintenance. Eventually, you want to add high fiber to help diversify your beneficial gut bacteria.
does the ketogenic diet improve gut health in people?
The ketogenic (keto) diet has complex, often conflicting effects on gut health, offering potential benefits for specific conditions while posing risks to long-term microbiome diversity. While it can reduce inflammation and aid in treating certain digestive disorders or metabolic issues, it often reduces the diversity of gut bacteria, particularly beneficial Bifidobacteria, due to low fiber intake.
Key Impacts on Gut Health:
Reduced Bacterial Diversity: The severe restriction of carbohydrates (including prebiotic fibers) can lead to a significant decrease in the variety of gut microbes, which is generally associated with poor gut health.
Potential Benefits: Some studies suggest the keto diet can reduce gut inflammation and support the growth of certain beneficial bacteria (like Akkermansia muciniphila) that support the gut barrier.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term: While short-term, medically supervised, or modified ketogenic diets (like a Mediterranean Keto Diet) may show some benefits, a strict, long-term ketogenic diet may cause chronic constipation and lack necessary prebiotic fiber for a healthy, diverse microbiome.
Risks: A lack of fiber and, in some cases, an increase in pro-inflammatory bacteria, can occur.
Yes, research indicates a strong link between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and gut dysbiosis, with many studies showing that autistic individuals often experience significant gastrointestinal (GI) issues and possess a different composition of gut microbiota compared to neurotypical peers. This imbalance can create a "leaky gut," allowing toxins and bacterial metabolites to impact brain function via the gut-brain axis.
No Trump supporter signed on to defend RFK and his claims, but here we are.
We definitely need an serious, honest, overdue look at what we're consuming, but we didn't need this guy and his baggage to do it.
By cultivating gut health, you turn your body into a customized pharmacological manufacturing system producing endogenous chemicals Impossible to overdose from.
That's the rub, CJ. Normal people don't think outside of the box. Normal people want to be told what to do. Normal people want a simple take a pill, do one simple trick solution. Normal people want to be normal. They don't want to stand out or be different.
I'm so sorry that the the inconvenient Truth is that crazy. Outlandish MFers are the ones who change the world.
Science is a basket of correlations.
Has anyone did any research
RFK may be a 'crank" but he is the only one actually talking about the poisons in our food, and the small number of companies who own our food supply.
Or you could talk to ranchers, farmers, and the people who supply our food, and see the hoops they have to go thru to do their job.
No one else is willing to do it. Big AG, like Pharma, buys and sells politicians like skittles.
But yeah, brand the one guy who is trying to bring this to light as a crank. Nice to see the leftist spin in full exposure.
Veganism without supplements leads to loss of nervous system integrity. Vegetarianism full of carbohydrates is correlated with evolution of systemic fat. Homos transition in proximity to viability through inflammatory climate change. Abortive ideation is entertained through dietary choices? Perhaps.
Keto has been used for seizures in children for many years. It reduces neural inflammation. There is some evidence that this works in specific types of schizophrenia and bi-polar. Research has been going on for a few years.
My wife participated in a study at the University of Michigan last winter that involved a low carb diet with ketone supplements. She has not adjusted her medication, but the ketone supplements seemed to be very helpful when she was taking them. They’re not cheap, though so she hasn’t used them much since the trial but has recently been trying it again.
There is a ton of research on the benefits of an anti inflammatory diet. I have been an intermittent faster for over five years. The last year or two, I got lazy and drifted…put on a few pounds, became more forgetful, needed a nap almost every day at 3:00. I recommitted to a 19:5 fasting schedule in January (19 hours fasting, 5 hour eating window) and now I remember all the subtle side benefits of fasting besides weight loss: increased mental clarity, increased energy, plus two small skin tags on my face disappeared. It has to do with autophagy. The body’s superpower when in a fasted state to renew cellular composition and clean out old cells. There is research that fasting — keeping insulin levels shut down for a significant portion of the day— can reduce the size of cancer tumors and positively affect all kinds of inflammatory issues. I’m not getting seasonal allergies anymore, for instance.
We are and have been a nation hooked on pharmaceuticals and loathe to be straight with people about the danger of a steady diet of convenience foods. I love that the Trump admin is trying to do bold things, tackle intractable problems that everyone accepted as inevitable five years ago. MAHA is going to get ridiculed by all the usual suspects, the guardians of the status quo. But he is on the money.
"...unfounded claim..."
That's NYT code for the crazies must have their Twinkies
Robert Kennedy Jr. must be destroyed before people get better and turn MAGA.
Caroline: Years ago the primary application of a strict ketogenic diet (It was called the Mayo Clinic diet back then) was to manage severe seizure disorders in children whose condition was deemed ,medically intractable, uncontrollable by any meds then in use. Mayo was never able to offer an explanation for why a strict keto diet offered these kids the ability to have some semblance of seizure control, but the fact is it did work, The biggest problem was getting the kids to stay on it -- nobody loves carbs/sugars more than a kid and peer pressure (plus family resistance) was a big factor in the unpopularity of keto therapy but it is still in use. Still no explanation for why it works, either.
Unfounded claims the size of founded claims, appearing to be research the NYT doesn't like.
What we put into our bodies absolutely affects how our mind works. Surely we can all agree on that.
Pass the potatoes, please.
We're also learning more every month it seems on how the gut microbiome affects so much in our body, including how our brain functions.
Hey...toss over that bag of Doritos.
RFK Jr. does tend to make declarations before they have been thoroughly proven out. But he also makes some great ones that are proven, and that much of Establishment Medicine either ignores or simply doesn't know yet.
Hey...do you guys have any Diet Coke left?
Bottom line is that nutrition is crucial to our overall health. Eating fewer empty carbs, less sugar, more protein, along with more vegetables and fruit will do us all good. Avoiding processed foods, foods made up of more chemicals than actual food, and limiting the junk will do us all good. In the meantime...
Anyone seen the box of Ho-Ho's?
My daughter is an occupational therapist who works with ADHD and autistic children. The very first thing she does is review and modify the diet to eliminate all the junk carbs and sugary (corn syrup) drinks and highly processed foods. She has been very successful with getting kids off of ADHD meds just by altering diet. What you eat is fundamental to your physical and mental health.
She has kid patients on the spectrum who were fine until they received one of those unnecessary vaccinations. Yes it does happen. She's seen it first hand. She convinced me to not take the Covid jab. Her advice was to eat healthy, exercise and supplement vitamin D. She was right.
My wife wrote her master's degree thesis in social work on the topic of the effect of diet on behavior. She used several published sources. That was in about 1980, decades ago now.
I (a 75 year old woman) was diagnosed with diabetes (A1c 6.6) in June. Rather than taking the prescription handed me I decided to go keto. I measured my blood sugar and ketones daily and now wear a continuous glucose monitor. Initially I went pretty close to zero carb. In October my A1c measured 5.9 (prediabetes) and last month down to 5.3 (normal)! I have lost 25 lbs as well. Inflammation markers improved as did chronic kidney disease! I’m somewhat more relaxed but still count carbs and stay quite low. I feel great…no brain fog, more energy. RFK is not a crank…he has fought big AG and big Pharma for decades.
It will be fascinating to observe the cognitive dissonance of the NYT readership who are intensely focused on dietary health (trust me, I'm married to one) regarding RFK as the primary exponent.
Barbara @ 10:32. Similar story though my A1C is a bit higher. Doc says I'm "pre-diabetic." How can that be!? Been there! I insist that I am now "post-diabetic." 🤣
Is there a longer version of the quote where he actually said “cure”? Of is the NYT making an unfounded claim?
Should the geniuses at NYT know the difference between “unfounded” and “unproven”? Or is just more TDS authorizes them to lie with impunity by manipulating language.
Purely anecdotal, but both Jordan B. Peterson and his daughter had significant health improvements by radical diet changes.
Marcus--Peterson recently (last 6 months?) had a significant setback. Doesn't invalidate the premise, but perhaps there is no such thing as a panacea.
The two patients described by Dr. Palmer were both overweight (one weighed 330 pounds) -- which could have been partly due to the psychiatric medications they were taking. They underwent significant physical changes after starting the diet that could have affected their psychological recovery.
It's also worth noting that "low-carb, high-fat" is isn't a very specific description. You could be eating high-quality proteins and lots of produce with olive oil, or you could be living on bunless cheeseburgers, pork rinds, and diet soda. Obviously, one will give you better results than the other.
"It's also worth noting that "low-carb, high-fat" is isn't a very specific description."
"Keto diet" means getting your daily carbs under 20 grams. Try it and you will see, that it is a pretty specific description. No tomatoes. No carrots. No iceberg lettuce. No OJ. No beer! But all the steak you want.
In three months I lost thirty pounds I don't miss at all, but it would be exhausting to do it permanently.
Strict keto has helped a lot of people with epilepsy. When you or your kid goes from three or four serious seizures a day to zero, there are definite quality-of-life impacts. Like, now they can take a bath by themselves.
And there's no way that degree of improvement is some kind of placebo effect. But you can't charge for the keto diet, so it hasn't been studied much. And it isn't recommended much. Here, take a pill. But don't take a bath, unless someone is with you.
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