Excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages causes repeated interpersonal, work and social problems. Alcohol abuse is underestimated and to date over 50% of alcohol-abstinence patients experience relapse during the first year of treatment. Current treatments therefore have limited efficacy and there is an urgent need for new therapeutic strategies. At the cerbral level, a decrease in glucose metabolism and an increase in the absorption of acetate, which is used as a metabolic fuel by the alcohol-dependent brain, is observed in heavy drinkers. A situation similar to that of ketosis. Based on these data, researchers published a preclinical study evaluating the potential therapeutic benefit of a ketogenic diet in the management of alcohol withdrawal symptoms during detoxification.
The study was performed on male rats who were given ethanol or water by mouth, twice a day for 6 days and fed with a ketogenic diet.
The group maintained in a ketogenic diet showed a significant decrease in stiffness and irritability and other alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The ketogenic diet may represent a new approach for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

Dencker, Ditte, et al. “Ketogenic Diet Suppresses Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome in Rats.” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 42.2 (2018): 270-277.