Effect of ketogenic diet versus regular diet on voice quality of patients with Parkinson's disease.

Diets that have effects on health problems can vary in their composition. Whilst following a regular diet (RD) a person typically consumes about 30% of calories from fat. Ketogenic diet (KD) is a form of diet whereby a person consumes as much as 90% of calories from fat. KD has been trialed as a treatment for neurological diseases and obesity. Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurologic disease that impacts the quality of voice. Voice Handicap Index (VHI) is a test that gives information to clinical and physiological assessment about voice. We assessed the impact of KD and RD on voice quality (VQ). Seventy-four patients with PD who reported a voice disorder related to their disease were randomly assigned to the KD or RD groups. We investigated the VHI change of subjects before and 3 months after diet. Sixty-eight PD patients completed the study. Baseline VHI values did not differ significantly between groups. All mean VHI parameters improved in KD group (p˂ 0.001). Currently there are different therapies that address speech and voice disorders in patients with PD. As such KD may be an alternative therapy to improve VQ of patients with PD. A larger sample size is necessary to determine the role and pathophysiology of KD on VQ of PD patients.