Effects of a Ketogenic Diet on Psychological Outcomes

Effects of Ketonemia and Glycemia Variations During Ketogenic and Mediterranean Weight Loss Diets on Appetite Levels, Executive Functions and Mood

The aim of the study is to investigate how glycemia and ketonemia variations during three different diet protocols: a ketogenic diet without any restriction on calories intake (KD), a calorie-restricted ketogenic-mediterranean diet (KEMEPHY) and a calorie-restricted mediterranean diet (MD) affect appetite, executive functions and mood in overweight young women.

Fifty overweight young women with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 will be randomly assigned to a ten days of ketogenic diet (KD), calorie-restricted ketogenic-mediterranean diet (KEMEPHY) or Mediterranean diet (MD). All subjects will begin the prescribed diet at the beginning of their follicular phase. Body composition, fasting blood glucose and β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), visual analogue scale (VAS) to test appetite as well as psychological tests (one mood test and two cognitive tasks) will be obtained 5 days before the beginning and on the last day of the diet-period.

Inclusion Criteria:

• female sex age between 20 and 35 years,
• 25<BMI>39.9 kg/m2

Exclusion Criteria:

• smokers,
• subjects under diet-treatment,
• subjects treated for diseases such as diabetes,
• cardiovascular diseases,
• depression,
• subjects doing sport more than 2 hours per week.