Featured Paper of the Month – August 2026
Published in Neuropsychopharmacology by Sophie Elvig, Adrienne McGinn, and Leandro Vendruscolo, et al. of the NIDA/NIAAA Stress and Addiction Neuroscience Unit.
Summary
Findings from this study suggest that a ketogenic diet (a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet) changes the way the body processes alcohol. Rats on the ketogenic diet broke down alcohol more slowly, resulting in higher blood alcohol levels after the same alcohol exposure compared with rats on a standard diet. Researchers found that a ketogenic diet reduced levels of a key liver enzyme involved in alcohol metabolism and changed the liver’s energy balance, which likely contributed to slower alcohol breakdown.
The study also found that the ketogenic diet changed how the brain uses energy. Compared with rats consuming a standard diet, rats on the ketogenic diet relied less on glucose (sugar) as a fuel source, consistent with the brain shifting to using ketones for energy. In male rats that had developed alcohol dependence, the ketogenic diet also reduced alcohol drinking during withdrawal. However, this effect was not seen in female rats, suggesting that males and females may respond differently to this type of dietary intervention.
These findings may have important implications for people with alcohol use disorder, but they should be interpreted with caution because the research was conducted in rats, not humans. The results support previous research suggesting that a ketogenic diet could eventually become a helpful addition to treatment by reducing alcohol craving or drinking in some people. At the same time, the study raises an important safety concern: because a ketogenic diet may slow alcohol metabolism, people following this diet could become more intoxicated after drinking the same amount of alcohol. More research in humans is needed to determine whether these findings apply to people and to better understand why the effects appear to differ between males and females.
Publication Information
A ketogenic diet reduces hepatic alcohol metabolism and alcohol consumption in rats Journal Article
In: Neuropsychopharmacology, vol. 51, no. 9, pp. 1568–1576, 2026, ISSN: 1740-634X.
