Harvard Medical School assistant professor Christopher M. Palmer said Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. \u201976 overstated his research when he claimed that Palmer had \u201ccured schizophrenia using keto diets,\u201d warning that the remark risked misleading patients with serious mental illnesses.<\/p>\n
Kennedy made the statement Wednesday at the Tennessee State Capitol during his \u201cTake Back Your Health\u201d national tour promoting the administration\u2019s new dietary guidelines. In his remarks, Kennedy said that \u201cwe now know that the things that you eat are driving mental illness in this country,\u201d and pointed to Palmer\u2019s work as evidence.<\/p>\n
Palmer said in an interview with The Crimson that he was \u201cgrateful and honored\u201d that Kennedy highlighted his research but stressed that he has never described ketogenic therapy as a cure for schizophrenia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s unfortunate that he used the word cure,\u201d he said. \u201cIf he had simply said powerful treatment, it would have been spot on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The difference, according to Palmer, is important because \u201ccure\u201d implies permanence \u2014 that a patient can stop treatment without relapse \u2014 which he said he has not observed clinically in patients with mental illnesses.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Cure\u2019 implies that you can do the treatment for a short time, stop the treatment, and your illness never comes back,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not at all what I\u2019ve seen in patients with severe mental illness.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Palmer studies the relationship between metabolism and mental health, with a focus on ketogenic therapies as potential treatments for psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.<\/p>\n
Palmber said ketogenic therapy appears most promising for some patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, though not all patients respond and others struggle to maintain the treatment.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Palmer co-authored a paper describing two patients who experienced long-term remission of schizophrenia symptoms while following a ketogenic diet.<\/p>\n
Palmer compared schizophrenia to conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, which can enter remission with ongoing lifestyle changes but typically return if treatment stops.<\/p>\n
While Palmer said Kennedy\u2019s comments could help draw attention to ketogenic therapies, he warned that oversimplified claims could pose serious risks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the worst case scenario, a patient might hear \u2018Oh, I can cure my schizophrenia with a keto diet,\u2019 and does that mean I can stop all my meds?\u201d he said. \u201cThat would be catastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmer said patients who attempt a ketogenic diet on their own while stopping medication could face severe mental health emergencies, including psychosis or involuntary hospitalization.<\/p>\n
Ketogenic therapy has been used for more than a century as an evidence-based treatment for epilepsy, including cases in which medications fail, according to Palmer, a precedent he said informs its use in psychiatry.<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s remarks come amid broader debate about his approach to health care policy. Since taking office, he has emphasized lifestyle-based interventions over pharmaceutical treatments, drawing criticism from some medical experts.<\/p>\n
Palmer also expressed concern about what he described as a broader tendency to sensationalize scientific research.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there is a tendency and inclination to sensationalize everything \u2013 politics, research, healthcare, civil liberties, all sorts of things,\u201d he said. \u201cI actually think it\u2019s heartbreaking, because when people are polarized, they\u2019re fighting, they\u2019re not working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that progress in mental health care will require bipartisan cooperation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not going to improve mental health care if we can\u2019t all work together,\u201d he said. \u201cPlease, let\u2019s at least come together to improve the lives of people with mental illness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Staff writer Riya S. Shah can be reached at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> and on Signal at riyas.23. Follow her on X @RiyaShah233<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014Staff writer Juliana L. Yao can be reached at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> and on Signal at jly.87. Follow her on X @<\/a>JulianaYao298<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harvard Medical School assistant professor Christopher M. Palmer said Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. \u201976 overstated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163,85,46,522,523],"class_list":{"0":"post-282720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}