Ketogenic Diet Reduces Alcohol Consumption and Improves Memory and Sociability in Mice

Alcohol use disorder is highly prevalent, with known associations to poor health and memory. Diet interventions are a useful tool that can help many, as they are relatively non-invasive and accessible. The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that has been used for decades to reduce seizures in children with epilepsy. In the current study, the effects of 3 weeks of a ketogenic diet on alcohol use and anxiety, post-alcohol anxiety, sociability, and memory were assessed in C57BL/6J mice.

In Experiments 1 and 1a, mice were allowed to drink alcohol for 8 weeks using the intermittent drinking-in-the-dark paradigm. Across the last 3 weeks of drinking, mice were fed either a ketogenic diet or a standard chow diet and tested for performance in a Barnes maze. In Experiment 2, mice were fed either a ketogenic diet or a standard diet for 3 weeks and observed for anxiety and social behaviors, and memory. Experiment 2a extended this work using a small number of male mice that were injected with alcohol for 1 week before behavioral assessment.

Overall, our findings suggest a therapeutic effect of the ketogenic diet on alcohol consumption and post-alcohol deficits.

Benefits were independent of effects on generalized anxiety yet support a more specific effect of the ketogenic diet to increase exploration and reduce behavioral inhibition. This study did not investigate the neurobiology underlying these effects, and future research is now needed.