Ketogenicdiet versus standard high-carbohydrate nutrition in sepsis: a randomized controlled trial

Sepsis patients suffer from severe metabolic and immunologic dysfunction that may be amplified by standard nutritional approaches relying primarily on carbohydrates. We here hypothesize that a ketogenic diet improves sepsis treatment. We conducted a monocentric open-labeled randomized controlled trial enrolling 40 adult sepsis patients. Patients were randomly assigned to either ketogenic diet (KD) or standard high-carbohydrate nutrition for 14 days and followed up until day 30. The primary outcome measure was β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) serum concentration on day 14. We assessed feasibility and safety of KD, as well as diet-associated clinical and immunological changes. The respective nutrition protocols were successfully applied, dropouts did not occur. Regression analysis revealed a greater increase in BHB concentrations from baseline to day 14 in KD patients compared to controls. Metabolic side effects were not observed under ketogenic diet. Ventilation-free, vasopressor-free, dialysis-free and ICU-free days significantly increased in patients under ketogenic diet. Transcriptome profiling of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells at day 14 revealed substantial differential regulation of gene expression in the KD vs. the control group indicating a reduced T-cell activation and a shift towards a more regulated immunity.