{"id":284005,"date":"2026-02-06T14:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T14:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/284005\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T14:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T14:18:16","slug":"rfk-jr-makes-unfounded-claim-the-keto-diet-can-cure-schizophrenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/284005\/","title":{"rendered":"RFK Jr makes unfounded claim the keto diet can \u2018cure\u2019 schizophrenia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Health and Human Services<\/a> Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr<\/a>. made an unfounded claim on Wednesday that the keto diet<\/a> can cure schizophrenia<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Health experts were quick to call the comment a vast overstatement<\/a> regarding the relationship between the diet and the disorder.<\/p>\n

Kennedy made the comments while he was visiting Tennessee as part of a national tour to encourage Americans to “eat real food,” according to The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His tour is serving as an information campaign to highlight the changes he’s made to the federal dietary guidelines<\/a>. The new recommendations include eating more protein and fats \u2014 like steak, cheese, and butter \u2014 drinking whole milk, and avoiding carbohydrates.<\/p>\n

During his visit to the Tennessee State Capitol, Kennedy said “we now know that the thing things that you eat are driving mental illness in this country,” and claimed that a Harvard doctor had “cured schizophrenia using keto diets.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are studies right now that I saw two days ago where people lose their bipolar diagnosis by changing their diet,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

\"Health<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a crowd at the Tennessee State Capitol that the keto diet was a cure for schizophrenia (Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Health and Human Services Secretary has been openly skeptical of vaccines and medication. In 2024, he said that ADHD medication<\/a> had “poisoned” an entire generation of children. Last year, he fired <\/a>the entire 17-member Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices vaccine board and replaced them with handpicked skeptics.<\/p>\n

In Tennessee, Kennedy was apparently referring to a 2019 paper<\/a> by Dr. Christopher Palmer, who described \u201ctwo patients with longstanding schizophrenia who experienced complete remission of symptoms\u201d after they began the keto diet. According to the research, both patients \u201cwere able to stop antipsychotic medications and have remained in remission for years now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palmer and his colleagues said in September that the keto diet was a \u201cpromising therapeutic approach for schizophrenia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Independent has requested comment from Palmer.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

A keto diet-friendly cheeseburger. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr told a crowd in Tennessee that the keto diet could cure schizophrenia, and that American diets are a primary contributor to mental illnesses<\/p>\n

“Keto,” as it’s often called, is a diet that generally consists of at least 70 percent of calories coming from fat, fewer than 10 percent coming from carbohydrates, and fewer than 20 percent from protein. The diet has proven popular for people looking to shed weight without having to go vegan or seriously reduce their caloric intake, but critics have warned that the focus on fats can, over time, be detrimental to one’s heart.<\/p>\n

While there are many accounts of keto dieters losing weight, the diet is also difficult to stick to because so many foods \u2014 even common staples like some fruits and vegetables and beloved treats like pizza \u2014 are prohibited by its rules.<\/p>\n

There have been some short-term studies \u2014 like one published by Stanford<\/a> last year \u2014 that have found the keto diet “might” help schizophrenia patients, but health experts warn that “might be helpful” is not the same as the nation’s top health official declaring a complicated mental illness has been cured by cutting out bread.<\/p>\n

Dr. Paul S. Appelbaum, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and former president of the American Psychiatric Association, told The NYT that it is “simply misleading” to claim that schizophrenia symptoms can even be improved by the keto diet, never mind cured.<\/p>\n

\"Health<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reveals the agency\u2019s new dietary guidelines at Health and Human Services Headquarters, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Washington ((AP Photo\/Jacquelyn Martin))<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is currently no credible evidence that ketogenic diets cure schizophrenia,\u201d Dr. Mark Olfson, another Columbia psychiatry professor, told The NYT.<\/p>\n

He noted that most of the studies that tested the keto diet as a treatment for mental health disorders \u2014 including the Stanford study referenced by Kennedy \u2014 did not include a control group following a regular, non-keto diet.<\/p>\n

Kennedy seems all-in on high-fat and protein diets. On January 7, Kennedy declared that the “war on protein” was over.<\/p>\n

“Today the lies stop,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines.”<\/p>\n

The Independent has requested comment from Kennedy via the DHHS. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[103,61,60,446],"class_list":{"0":"post-284005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}