Ketogenic Diet, Social Behavior, and Autism

The ketogenic diet (KD) is a metabolism-based therapy. There have been promising results from both patients and animal models of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) treated with the KD, indicating that it could afford beneficial effects in this disease. Notably, abundant evidence from animal models suggests that the KD improves social interaction and communication, which are hallmark areas affected in ASD. This is not entirely surprising, because metabolic dysregulation is hypothesized to play a critical pathophysiologic role. However, the mechanisms accounting for the effects of the KD on social behavior remain largely unknown. This chapter reviews the recent evidence regarding use of the KD in the treatment of autism, especially with respect to socialization functions, and discusses the future directions for this line of research.