Harvard Medical School assistant professor Christopher M. Palmer said Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’76 overstated his research when he claimed that Palmer had “cured schizophrenia using keto diets,” warning that the remark risked misleading patients with serious mental illnesses.
Kennedy made the statement Wednesday at the Tennessee State Capitol during his “Take Back Your Health” national tour promoting the administration’s new dietary guidelines. In his remarks, Kennedy said that “we now know that the things that you eat are driving mental illness in this country,” and pointed to Palmer’s work as evidence.
Palmer said in an interview with The Crimson that he was “grateful and honored” that Kennedy highlighted his research but stressed that he has never described ketogenic therapy as a cure for schizophrenia.
“It’s unfortunate that he used the word cure,” he said. “If he had simply said powerful treatment, it would have been spot on.”
The difference, according to Palmer, is important because “cure” implies permanence — that a patient can stop treatment without relapse — which he said he has not observed clinically in patients with mental illnesses.
“‘Cure’ implies that you can do the treatment for a short time, stop the treatment, and your illness never comes back,” he said. “That’s not at all what I’ve seen in patients with severe mental illness.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.
Palmer studies the relationship between metabolism and mental health, with a focus on ketogenic therapies as potential treatments for psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Palmber said ketogenic therapy appears most promising for some patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, though not all patients respond and others struggle to maintain the treatment.
In 2019, Palmer co-authored a paper describing two patients who experienced long-term remission of schizophrenia symptoms while following a ketogenic diet.
Palmer compared schizophrenia to conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, which can enter remission with ongoing lifestyle changes but typically return if treatment stops.
While Palmer said Kennedy’s comments could help draw attention to ketogenic therapies, he warned that oversimplified claims could pose serious risks.
“In the worst case scenario, a patient might hear ‘Oh, I can cure my schizophrenia with a keto diet,’ and does that mean I can stop all my meds?” he said. “That would be catastrophic.”
Palmer said patients who attempt a ketogenic diet on their own while stopping medication could face severe mental health emergencies, including psychosis or involuntary hospitalization.
Ketogenic therapy has been used for more than a century as an evidence-based treatment for epilepsy, including cases in which medications fail, according to Palmer, a precedent he said informs its use in psychiatry.
Kennedy’s remarks come amid broader debate about his approach to health care policy. Since taking office, he has emphasized lifestyle-based interventions over pharmaceutical treatments, drawing criticism from some medical experts.
Palmer also expressed concern about what he described as a broader tendency to sensationalize scientific research.
“I think there is a tendency and inclination to sensationalize everything – politics, research, healthcare, civil liberties, all sorts of things,” he said. “I actually think it’s heartbreaking, because when people are polarized, they’re fighting, they’re not working together.”
He added that progress in mental health care will require bipartisan cooperation.
“We are not going to improve mental health care if we can’t all work together,” he said. “Please, let’s at least come together to improve the lives of people with mental illness.”
—Staff writer Riya S. Shah can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at riyas.23. Follow her on X @RiyaShah233.
—Staff writer Juliana L. Yao can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at jly.87. Follow her on X @JulianaYao298.