Schizophrenia, gluten, and low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diets: a case report and review of the literature.

Kraft BD, Westman EC.
ABSTRACT: We report the unexpected resolution of longstanding schizophrenic symptoms after starting a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet. After a review of the literature, possible reasons for this include the metabolic consequences from the elimination of gluten from the diet, and the modulation of the disease of schizophrenia at the cellular level.
PMID: 19245705


The full article and case study is available online:
http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.co...-7075-6-10.pdf

Conclusion

While more research is needed to confirm the association between gluten intake and
schizophrenia and whether dietary change can ameliorate schizophrenic symptoms, health care
providers could consider screening patients with schizophrenia for celiac disease and/or augment

the medical regimen with a gluten-free or low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet.


For other articles and studies I've found about gluten and schizophrenia:
http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com/schizophrenia

I saw more about schizophrenia and gluten research with other such cases on the It's Not Mental website http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/200...onnection.html showing this may not be that rare a phenomenon, or perhaps it might not be so rare if doctors would actually tell people about it or hospitals would actually implement the research results. After all, it is not like it might have adverse side-effects.

Oh. Right. I forgot. It would be a few less people on pharmaceutical medications, and therefore some big companies would suffer the adverse side-effect of a few less dollars income.

Obviously, that is not the reason.

The only reason I can think of is ignorance on the part of the medical community.

The first article I found on gluten and schizophrenia dates back to 1976.
Here we are more than 30 years later, and it is still practically unheard of. Same holds true for gluten related epilepsy.

At least today we have the Internet, and people or family members who take the initiative can find this information for themselves.

Good one .

I'm afraid you are right... a big part of the lack of information spread is because it doesn't involve a medication so there is nobody to promote it to the physicians. And research dollars are scarce if there is no potential blockbuster drug to come out of it.

There is no downside to a gluten free or gluten free/casein free diet. It makes me crazy, sometimes, how often doctors will actually discourage it unless they find biopsy proven celiac disease when so many suffer the same effects from gluten sensitivity that doesn't show as celiac disease....especially when symptoms are neurological!

I was looking back at this conversation. Two years later. At least there are books coming out about both dairy (casein) and gluten, even if the doctors are still ignoring it.

I see on http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/ books have been added as well as links. And blog stories about it as in Getting Better, a follow up to Bipolar and off meds.