The behavioural and pathophysiological effects of the ketogenic diet on mild traumatic brain injury in adolescent rats.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), caused by an insult to the head, results in a cascade of molecular imbalance that includes altered glucose metabolism, mitochondrial dysfunction, and increases in reactive oxygen species. Although glucose is the primary energy source for the brain, it becomes an inefficient substrate following injury, and the brain is primed to use alternative substrates (such as ketones). The ketogenic diet (KD), a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, forces the brain to utilize ketones over glucose for energy.