Evaluation of a Keto-Like Supplement on Brain Responses to Emotional Stimuli in Depression

This study aims to determine whether a keto-like supplement relative to placebo results in functional brain changes during fMRI tasks evaluating positive and negative valence in individuals with moderate to severe depression. In this double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial, 75 individuals with a Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scale score ≥ 10 (MDD) will be enrolled to participate in an 8-week treatment study to obtain 60 completers. Participants will be randomized with a 1-1 ratio to receive the keto-like supplement (n= 30 completers) or placebo (n=30 completers) taken orally three times per day for 8 weeks. Participants will undergo a 10.5-hour screening/baseline evaluation visit split over 2 days at week 0 including questionnaires, neuroimaging before and after supplement or placebo administration and blood draws, office visits at week 2 (1.5 hours), week 4 (3 hours), week 6 (0.5 hours), week 8 (6 hours), a follow-up visit at week 10 (1.5 hours) and two phone calls between visits (weeks 1 and 3) during which a brief clinical assessment will be obtained (10 minutes each). The total time involved in the study is approximately 23.5 hours.

NCT Number	NCT06263660
Lead Sponsor	Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Inc.
Conditions	Depression
Enrollment	75 participants
Start Date	2024-01-09
Primary Completion	2026-12-31 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-12 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-04-20