Abstract
Objective
To determine whether ketogenic weight reducing diets have adverse effects on cognitive performance.Subjects
21 overweight women (mean BMI = 41 kg/m2).Design
Randomized double-blinded study.Method
Subjects were randomized to ketogenic or nonketogenic liquid formula very low energy diets, that were comparable in energy and in protein content. Subjects remained on the diet for 28 days and were reevaluated periodically with brief measures of cognitive performance assessing attention and mental flexibility.Results
Weight losses were comparable on the two diets (Mean = 8.1 kg). Performance on attention tasks did not differ as a function of the diet. However, performance on the trail making task, a neuropsychological test that requires higher order mental processing and flexibility, was adversely affected by the ketogenic diet. The worsening in performance was observed primarily between baseline and week one of the ketogenic diet.Conclusions
Further research is needed to confirm this finding and to determine whether ketogenic diets negatively affect other complex mental tasks, such as problem solving.Citations & impact
Impact metrics
Article citations
Effects of low-carbohydrate diets versus low-fat diets on metabolic risk factors in overweight and obese adults: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Front Nutr, 9:935234, 09 Aug 2022
Cited by: 4 articles | PMID: 36017224 | PMCID: PMC9397119
Review Free full text in Europe PMC
Statement on additional scientific evidence in relation to the essential composition of total diet replacement for weight control.
EFSA J, 19(4):e06494, 15 Apr 2021
Cited by: 0 articles | PMID: 33889217 | PMCID: PMC8048769
Mitophagy and the Brain.
Int J Mol Sci, 21(24):E9661, 18 Dec 2020
Cited by: 23 articles | PMID: 33352896 | PMCID: PMC7765816
Review Free full text in Europe PMC
The Ketogenic Diet: Evidence for Optimism but High-Quality Research Needed.
J Nutr, 150(6):1354-1359, 01 Jun 2020
Cited by: 48 articles | PMID: 31825066 | PMCID: PMC7269727
An Approach to Obesity Management for Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists.
Curr Treat Options Gastroenterol, 17(4):587-601, 01 Dec 2019
Cited by: 0 articles | PMID: 31755071
Review
Go to all (42) article citations
Similar Articles
To arrive at the top five similar articles we use a word-weighted algorithm to compare words from the Title and Abstract of each citation.
Blood ketones are directly related to fatigue and perceived effort during exercise in overweight adults adhering to low-carbohydrate diets for weight loss: a pilot study.
J Am Diet Assoc, 107(10):1792-1796, 01 Oct 2007
Cited by: 25 articles | PMID: 17904939
Glucose uptake by the brain on chronic high-protein weight-loss diets with either moderate or low amounts of carbohydrate.
Br J Nutr, 111(4):586-597, 01 Feb 2014
Cited by: 5 articles | PMID: 24528939
Composition of weight lost during short-term weight reduction. Metabolic responses of obese subjects to starvation and low-calorie ketogenic and nonketogenic diets.
J Clin Invest, 58(3):722-730, 01 Sep 1976
Cited by: 85 articles | PMID: 956398 | PMCID: PMC333231
Low-calorie diets and sustained weight loss.
Obes Res, 9 Suppl 4:290S-294S, 01 Nov 2001
Cited by: 19 articles | PMID: 11707556
Review
[The significance of carbohydrates in reducing diets].
Infusionstherapie, 16(4):176-181, 01 Aug 1989
Cited by: 0 articles | PMID: 2680991
Review
Funding
Funders who supported this work.
NCRR NIH HHS (1)
Grant ID: 501M01RR-00056
NIDDK NIH HHS (2)
Grant ID: DK29757
Grant ID: DK39157