An Open Letter to RFK Jr. re Keto and Mental Illness
Dear Sir,
HOW DARE YOU?
As the appointed Health Secretary of the United States, you have the job - no, you have the obligation to the American people - to back up your claims with scientific fact and be mindful of the claims you make.
In Tennessee this week, as part of your national tour to urge Americans to “eat real food” - well, the food that you deem to be real (emphasizing protein and fats, including steak, cheese, butter and whole milk) - you said that a ketogenic diet, more commonly known as keto, can “cure” schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
CURE. And you kidding me?
Sure, what we eat affects our whole body. I get that. Your gut is your microbiome, and I am not a fan of ulta-processed foods, either. On that we can agree.
But Keto to “cure” my son’s schizophrenia? If this weren’t so painful and insulting, I would laugh.
Instead, I will advocate. That’s my saving grace in the heartbreak that is having someone you love suffer with a debilitating mental illness.
RFK Jr. Claims Keto is a Cure for Schizophrenia and Bipolar?
Let’s just say, there are a plethora of holes in your claim. And I have questions.
First of all, you are quoting a theory - a theory - based on case reports and small, uncontrolled pilot studies. This is not science.
As our supposed Health Secretary, it is your obligation to check the facts. There is a suspicious lack of large-scale trials.
2. Secondly, who participated in these so-called studies? I don’t care that they took place at Harvard, Stanford, or a basement laboratory. Study participants have to first be willing to be a subject. And, as most people with schizophrenia are not aware they have the illness (it’s called anosognosia, look it up), the subjects are not an accurate representation of the population with SMI (Serious Mental Illness).
3. Third: Let’s address the problem of those with SMI to change their diet to this caveman regimen (by the way, schizophrenia has been documented for centuries, yes even when we were eating primarily keto-style --- at the least many of the wealthy were. Hmmm).
My son doesn’t think he needs to change anything - not go to the dentist, not stop smoking weed, not make his bed, not eat meat at all (he is vegetarian). How do you suggest families get their loved ones who don’t think they are ill at all to eat Keto??
4. Fourth: What about the other health problems that the Keto diet causes? Heart disease, cholesterol, kidney stones, etc?
And I could go on.
But I will leave it at this. You do NOT know.
Unless I have missed something, you have never tried to manage a loved one in psychosis.
You have never tried desperately to get help when your child or partner or parent is threatening you, or himself, or claiming you are really a demon in disguise.
You have never had to watch someone you love become someone you wish you didn’t know.
You have never faced a system where stability is named a “cure” and then the roller coaster starts up again.
I say the same thing to you and your false claims of knowledge and cures that I would have said to Tom Cruise years ago when he claimed we are “drugging” our children (adding alterations to the brain) when were were finding good results and a more livable life by providing them with medication (restoring balance to the brain):
Until you know- until you really know - Mr. Health Secretary, SHUT UP.
And get the facts. All of them. You owe it to the American people. Especially those suffering in ways you can’t, evidently, even imagine.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
