Metabolic ketogenic therapy may provide some benefit for patients with migraine, according to findings published in
Frontiers in Nutrition. Lenycia Neri, PhD, and colleagues performed a systemic review of
literature on the role of ketosis in migraine, including 10 studies in the assessment. Ketogenic
therapies evaluated as migraine treatments included the very low-calorie ketogenic diet (n=4),
the modified Atkins diet (n=3), the classic ketogenic diet (n=2), and administration of an
exogenous source of beta-hydroxybutyrate (n=1). Despite high heterogeneity, the analysis
demonstrated that all diet strategies had an overall significant effect (z=9.07; P<0.00001;
subgroup differences, chi-squared=9.19; dif=3; P=0.03; I2, 67.4%), regardless of the type of
endogenous or exogenous ketosis induction. The results confirm the need for future research in this
area, according to Dr. Neri and colleagues, “especially randomized clinical trials with
appropriate and standardized methodologies.” The researchers also emphasized sufficient
measurement of ketone levels to monitor
adherence.
