There is more and more evidence that a ketogenic diet is neuroprotective, meaning it can protect the nerve cells in our brain. Since Parkinson’s belongs to the neurological diseases, on today’s World Parkinson’s Day we want to get to the bottom of the following question: can a ketogenic diet be used as a therapy for Parkinson’s?
Parkinson’s and a ketogenic diet
Written by
Claude API
10 minutes reading time
27. September 2026
Table of contents
1. Parkinson's: what is it?
Parkinson’s, often also called Morbus Parkinson, is one of the most common diseases of the nervous system and currently affects more than 200,000 people in Germany.
For reasons that are still unexplained, nerve cells in a particular region of the brain gradually die off with age: so called dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra become fewer step by step.
As a result the messenger substance dopamine is no longer produced and stored in sufficient amounts. This throws the brain’s transmission of messages out of balance and the typical Parkinson’s symptoms appear. They include above all muscle tremor, muscle rigidity, lack of movement and an unstable posture.
In most cases the triggers of the disease are unknown, but genetic changes, infections and various environmental influences such as pesticides are discussed.
Parkinson’s is a disease that cannot be cured. Even so, patients can as a rule be treated very well with medication for a long time. Further progression of the symptoms, however, usually calls for a new, adjusted medication setting.
2. The ketogenic diet
From acne through PCOS to Parkinson's?
Although the ketogenic diet has been used successfully as a therapy for epilepsy for a great many years, it only became a publicly known and recognised way of eating in recent years. With a very low carbohydrate intake and at the same time a raised fat intake, the metabolism is switched over in this form of nutrition so that the body enters the state of so called ketosis. This form of nutrition promises results not only when it comes to weight reduction, but also with numerous other complaints and conditions, such as acne, migraine, diabetes, PCOS and the epilepsy already mentioned. There is now increasing evidence that the ketogenic diet is neuroprotective as well, meaning “nerve cell protecting”. That could have a positive effect on neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, which is the reason for today’s article.
Before we look a little more closely at the connection mentioned, we want to say in advance that with any illness, every change of diet must always be carried out under medical supervision. Depending on the purpose, individual adjustments have to be made, both in the final composition of the nutrition and in the drug therapy.
3. A ketogenic diet with Parkinson's
Does that make sense?
A ketogenic diet leads the body into a state that is equal to fasting: because of the very small amounts of carbohydrate, blood sugar falls and after a short time our brain has to look for an alternative in order to get enough energy. In the state of ketosis (which is what defines a ketogenic diet), the ketones beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate above all are used to fill exactly this “energy gap”. Both the low blood sugar and the presence of the ketone bodies mentioned are decisive factors when it comes to the therapeutic significance of a ketogenic diet. According to current knowledge they lead, by very complex routes, to the neuroprotective properties already mentioned. This protection of the nerve cells is exactly the reason why neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s are now more and more in the focus of “keto science”. Can Parkinson’s symptoms be improved with a ketogenic diet? Can the dying off of the cells in the brain be prevented or slowed down? Science is working at full speed to be able to answer these questions.
These are very complex processes in the body that have not yet been fully researched. In the following, however, we will briefly summarise what is already known on the subject of Parkinson’s and a ketogenic diet:
The ketogenic diet has a neuroprotective effect, it protects nerve cells.
Have you ever heard of autophagy? It is a kind of “cleaning operation” in which cell debris from old or sick cells is removed. If that does not happen, or at least not sufficiently, the cell rubbish is deposited. As a result this rubbish disturbs the healthy cells and can even destroy them. With age more and more cells die off, so more and more rubbish is created that has to be removed. As a result, cells that are actually healthy can be destroyed by the debris. With Parkinson’s, as already mentioned, the dying off of nerve cells also plays a very large role. So it stands to reason that increased autophagy could counteract the destruction of some cells with age. And how can this autophagy be boosted? With a ketogenic diet. The ketone bodies that are formed boost the cleaning operation in the brain and could therefore prevent diseases such as Parkinson’s. If you would like to know more about autophagy, you can read up on it in our article on bulletproof coffee.
In Parkinson’s patients it is assumed that the uptake of glucose into the brain is limited in the affected cells. There is therefore a risk that these cells do not get enough energy and as a result suffer an energy shortage. The ketone bodies produced during a ketogenic diet, however, can reach the brain cells by another route. Unlike glucose, ketone bodies can therefore prevent an energy shortage in the brain cells.
With a ketogenic diet the power stations of our cells (the so called mitochondria) can work better, for example. As a result fewer free radicals are formed. And what is good about few free radicals? Quite simply, free radicals can destroy cells. That means: fewer free radicals, more happy, healthy cells.
Another point that is discussed is an anti-inflammatory effect of the keto diet, which could consequently support a better “performance” of the nerve cells. We have a detailed article about the anti-inflammatory effect that you can read on our blog.
It is also assumed that the ketogenic diet can reduce so called apoptosis. Apop what? Apoptosis means cell death. If this is reduced, fewer cells die off. Our nerve cells would therefore be protected.
Unfortunately the body of studies on Parkinson’s patients and a ketogenic diet is not yet very extensive. Cell culture experiments and animal studies above all have been carried out, while studies with humans are still very rare at present. The few experiments that do exist showed positive effects of ketone bodies on the course of Parkinson’s syndrome. The motor abilities of rats with Parkinson’s improved, for example, when they were given a ketogenic diet3. For around a month Parkinson’s patients ate a ketogenic diet and at the end were able to improve their Parkinson’s score (a kind of assessment of the degree of the disease). Even though the authors could not rule out a placebo effect, it is encouraging for further investigations5. In 2018 a study showed that an eight week low-fat or ketogenic diet in Parkinson’s patients was able to reduce the motor and non-motor symptoms. The ketogenic diet was additionally able to improve the non-motor symptoms even more strongly than the low-fat diet that was examined2. In future these studies definitely have to be expanded further, in order to understand the mechanisms and therapeutic potential better.
4. Conclusion
According to the current state of knowledge, the ketogenic diet holds great potential to be used as a therapy for Parkinson’s in future. It can protect the nerve cells in various ways. Positive effects seem to be achieved not only by boosting autophagy, but also through further complex mechanisms. The knowledge we have so far, however, needs to be expanded above all through long term studies, in order to understand the underlying processes and the treatment options that arise from them even better.
- Paoli A, Rubini A, Volker JS, Grimaldi KA: Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets.Eur J Clin Nutr. 2013 Aug; 67(8): 789–796.
- Phillips M.C.L., Murtagh D.K.J., Gilbertson L.J., Asztely F.J.S., Lynch C.D.P. Low-fat versus ketogenic diet in Parkinson’s disease: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Mov. Disord. 2018;33:1306–1314. doi: 10.1002/mds.27390
- Shaafi S., Najmi S., Aliasgharpour H., Mahmoudi J., Sadigh-Etemad S., Farhoudi M., Baniasadi N. The efficacy of the ketogenic diet on motor functions in Parkinson’s disease: A rat model. Iran. J. Neurol. 2016;15:63–69.
- Stafstrom CE, Rho JM. The ketogenic diet as a treatment paradigm for diverse neurological disorders. Front Pharmacol. 2012 Apr 9;3:59. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2012.00059
- Vanitallie T.B., Nonas C., Di Rocco A., Boyar K., Hyams K., Heymsfield S.B. Treatment of Parkinson’s disease with diet-induced hyperketonemia: A feasibility study. Neurology. 2005;64:728–730. doi: 10.1212/01
- Wlodarek D. Role of Ketogenic Diets in Neurodegenerative Diseases (Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease). Nutrients. 2019 Jan; 11(1): 169.
Image: the human brain. Shutterstock.com/ Tatiana Shepeleva
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