Ketogenic diet may protect against stress experienced in the womb, suggests study

Researchers have shown that young rats fed a ketogenic diet – a diet with high fat and low carbohydrates – are protected from the lasting experience of pre-natal stress. This work, which needs to be confirmed in humans, is presented at the ECNP conference in Amsterdam

An extensive body of research has shown that if mothers experience stress while pregnant, the offspring can suffer ongoing psychological and development-related conditions.

Now a group of Italian researchers have shown that the biological changes induced by a ketogenic diet may help them to escape from the long-lasting effects of stress experienced in the womb.

The pregnant rats were stressed in the final week before birth. The offspring were weaned at 21 days after birth, and assigned either a control diet, or a ket