Ketogenic diets and pain
Two articles on PainSci cite Masino 2013: 1. Complete Guide to Frozen Shoulder 2. Chronic, Subtle, Systemic Inflammation
PainSci notes on Masino 2013:
Ketogenic diets are well-known to treat epilepsy in some children. The biology of ketogenesis may also have an effect on some kinds of inflammation and pain, especially neuropathic pain. Although highly speculative, there are some reasons to think it might work, and some indirect (animal) evidence that it does. Like seizures, some kinds of pain may involve overexcited neurons, and can be treated with anticonvulsant drugs. Ketone metabolism “produces fewer reactive oxygen species,” a contributor to inflammation; and it produces adenosine signalling, which is a suspected pain-killer in other contexts (exercise, possibly acupuncture).
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
Ketogenic diets are well established as a successful anticonvulsant therapy. Based on overlap between mechanisms postulated to underlie pain and inflammation, and mechanisms postulated to underlie therapeutic effects of ketogenic diets, recent studies have explored the ability for ketogenic diets to reduce pain. Here we review clinical and basic research thus far exploring the impact of a ketogenic diet on thermal pain, inflammation, and neuropathic pain.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Is Neck Posture Subgroup in Late Adolescence a Risk Factor for Persistent Neck Pain in Young Adults? A Prospective Study. Richards 2021 Phys Ther.
- Photobiomodulation therapy is not better than placebo in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Guimarães 2021 Pain.
- No effect of creatine monohydrate supplementation on inflammatory and cartilage degradation biomarkers in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Cornish 2018 Nutr Res.
- The CANBACK trial: a randomised, controlled clinical trial of oral cannabidiol for people presenting to the emergency department with acute low back pain. Bebee 2021 Med J Aust.
- Relationships Between Sleep Quality and Pain-Related Factors for People with Chronic Low Back Pain: Tests of Reciprocal and Time of Day Effects. Gerhart 2017 Ann Behav Med.