Drug & supplement interaction

Ketogenic Diet + Methylene Blue

Methylene Blue brand names: Urolene Blue, Provayblue.

No Known Interaction
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Ketogenic Diet and Methylene Blue in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

Know someone interested in this? Share
Interaction report

Ketogenic Diet and Methylene Blue

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Methylene Blue and Ketogenic Diet in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — research on Ketogenic Diet alongside specific medications may be limited.

Ketogenic Diet is an eating pattern rather than something you take. Ask your pharmacist or doctor before changing how you eat while on a prescribed medicine: some medicines are dosed around meals, and a change in diet can change how they work. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Ketogenic Diet safety at a glance

Ketogenic Diet overall Use caution Generally manageable for healthy adults short-term, but it can cause side effects and is not safe for everyone.
Pregnancy Use caution Strict keto is generally not recommended in pregnancy without medical supervision because of nutrient and growth concerns.
Breastfeeding Possibly Unsafe When used orally without medical supervision. While rare, there are several case reports of lactation ketoacidosis thought to be associated with adherence to ca... Read the full breastfeeding detail

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Methylene Blue and Ketogenic Diet? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Methylene Blue

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Methylene Blue is filed under 3 classifications — serotonergic drugs, serotonergic drugs, oral drugs. Ketogenic Diet has documented interactions with 6 drug classes — the most serious being anticonvulsants (moderate), antidiabetes drugs (moderate) and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (moderate) — and none of Methylene Blue’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Ketogenic Diet Does Interact With Other Medications

Ketogenic Diet has 137 moderate, 122 minor known drug interactions in our database — Methylene Blue isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Ketogenic Diet

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Ketogenic Diet. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Ketogenic Diet and Methylene Blue May Share Several of the Same Side Effects

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so following Ketogenic Diet while taking the medicine can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do. 3 of them are worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

  • Seizures Worth acting on Additional detail

    Ketogenic Diet

    “Increased risk of infection has been reported rarely, possibly related to low protein intake. Anaphylaxis associated with the ketogenic diet has also been reported rarely. In one case, a 6-year-old male developed a new-onset egg allergy with an anaphylactic reaction following a previous consumption of 10-15 eggs daily for 6 months as part of the ketogenic diet for epilepsy.”

    Ketogenic Diet · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in allergic rhinitis (hay fever).

    3 sources cited
    1. 98416. van der Louw E, van den Hurk D, Neal E, et al. Ketogenic diet guidelines for infants with refractory epilepsy. Eur J Paediatr Neurol. 2016;20(6):798-809. PubMed
    2. 96968. Ulamek-Koziol M, Pluta R, Bogucka-Kocka A, Czuczwar SJ. To treat or not to treat drug-refractory epilepsy by the ketogenic diet? That is the question. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2016;23(4):533-536. PubMed
    3. 97642. Levy Y, Peleg-Weiss L, Goldberg-Stern H. The modified Atkins diet for intractable epilepsy may be associated with late-onset egg-induced anaphylactic reaction: a case report. Nutrition. 2011;27(3):380-2.

    “Hyperuricemia is a common mild and transient adverse effect related to a very low-calorie ketogenic diet in obese adults. It has also been reported with high-fat ketogenic diets in children with epilepsy and a few patients with cancer.

    In a case report, hyponatremia thought to be related to the ketogenic diet occurred in an adult given the diet for super-refractory status epilepticus.”

    Ketogenic Diet · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in anemia.

    6 sources cited
    1. 96957. Martin-McGill KJ, Srikandarajah N, Marson AG, Tudur Smith C, Jenkinson MD. The role of ketogenic diets in the therapeutic management of adult and paediatric gliomas: a systematic review. CNS Oncol. 2018;7(2):CNS17.
    2. 96970. Zahra A, Fath MA, Opat E, et al. Consuming a ketogenic diet while receiving radiation and chemotherapy for locally advanced lung cancer and pancreatic cancer: The University of Iowa experience of two phase 1 clinical trials. Radiat Res. 2017;187(6):743-75 PubMed
    3. 96978. Winter SF, Loebel F, Dietrich J. Role of ketogenic metabolic therapy in malignant glioma: A systematic review. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2017;112:41-58. PubMed
    4. 97650. Cai QY, Zhou ZJ, Luo R, et al. Safety and tolerability of the ketogenic diet used for the treatment of refractory childhood epilepsy: a systematic review of published prospective studies. World J Pediatr. 2017;13(6):528-536. PubMed
    5. 98415. Cervenka MC, Hocker S, Koenig M, et al. Phase I/II multicenter ketogenic diet study for adult superrefractory status epilepticus. Neurology. 2017;88(10):938-943. PubMed
    6. 100843. Chin A. Copper Deficiency Anemia and Neutropenia Due to Ketogenic Diet. Pediatrics. 2018;141(5). pii: e20173286. PubMed

    Methylene Blue

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Methylene Blue. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Anemia Worth acting on Additional detail

    Ketogenic Diet

    Recorded for Ketogenic Diet in the same Natural Medicines adverse-effect record shown under Seizures above.

    Methylene Blue

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Methylene Blue. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • A severe allergic reaction Worth acting on Additional detail

    Ketogenic Diet

    Recorded for Ketogenic Diet in the same Natural Medicines adverse-effect record shown under Seizures above.

    Methylene Blue

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Methylene Blue. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Diarrhea Additional detail

    Ketogenic Diet

    “The most common adverse effect of the ketogenic diet is constipation, possibly requiring medication. Severe fecal impaction with a large stool bezoar that required a right hemicolectomy has been reported in a 6-week-old infant on ketogenic formula for refractory epilepsy. Other common mild adverse effects include vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, hunger, reflux, gas, and abdominal discomfort.”

    Ketogenic Diet · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in constipation.

    6 sources cited
    1. 98415. Cervenka MC, Hocker S, Koenig M, et al. Phase I/II multicenter ketogenic diet study for adult superrefractory status epilepticus. Neurology. 2017;88(10):938-943. PubMed
    2. 98417. Kossoff EH, Zupec-Kania BA, Auvin S, et al. Optimal clinical management of children receiving dietary therapies for epilepsy: Updated recommendations of the International Ketogenic Diet Study Group. Epilepsia Open. 2018;3(2):175-192. PubMed
    3. 96903. Liu H, Yang Y, Wang Y, et al. Ketogenic diet for treatment of intractable epilepsy in adults: A meta-analysis of observational studies. Epilepsia Open. 2018;3(1):9-17. PubMed
    4. 96957. Martin-McGill KJ, Srikandarajah N, Marson AG, Tudur Smith C, Jenkinson MD. The role of ketogenic diets in the therapeutic management of adult and paediatric gliomas: a systematic review. CNS Oncol. 2018;7(2):CNS17.
    5. 96978. Winter SF, Loebel F, Dietrich J. Role of ketogenic metabolic therapy in malignant glioma: A systematic review. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2017;112:41-58. PubMed
    6. 97639. Ashrafi MR, Hosseini SA, Zamani GR, et al. The efficacy of the ketogenic diet in infants and young children with refractory epilepsies using a formula-based powder. Acta Neurol Belg. 2017;117(1):175-182. PubMed

    Methylene Blue

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Methylene Blue. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Headache Additional detail

    Ketogenic Diet

    “Mild headaches, lethargy, and fatigue have been reported rarely, probably related to the reduction in carbohydrate intake. These symptoms are a part of a syndrome called the "keto flu" which sometimes occurs when initiating the ketogenic diet. In a few cases, seizures have worsened.”

    Ketogenic Diet · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in epilepsy.

    6 sources cited
    1. 96903. Liu H, Yang Y, Wang Y, et al. Ketogenic diet for treatment of intractable epilepsy in adults: A meta-analysis of observational studies. Epilepsia Open. 2018;3(1):9-17. PubMed
    2. 96954. Goday A, Bellido D, Sajoux I, et al. Short-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of a very low-calorie-ketogenic diet interventional weight loss program versus hypocaloric diet in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Nutr Diabetes. 2016;6(9):e230. PubMed
    3. 96970. Zahra A, Fath MA, Opat E, et al. Consuming a ketogenic diet while receiving radiation and chemotherapy for locally advanced lung cancer and pancreatic cancer: The University of Iowa experience of two phase 1 clinical trials. Radiat Res. 2017;187(6):743-75 PubMed
    4. 96978. Winter SF, Loebel F, Dietrich J. Role of ketogenic metabolic therapy in malignant glioma: A systematic review. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2017;112:41-58. PubMed
    5. 97650. Cai QY, Zhou ZJ, Luo R, et al. Safety and tolerability of the ketogenic diet used for the treatment of refractory childhood epilepsy: a systematic review of published prospective studies. World J Pediatr. 2017;13(6):528-536. PubMed
    6. 97651. Lin A, Turner Z, Doerrer SC, Stanfield A, Kossoff EH. Complications during ketogenic diet initiation: Prevalence, treatment, and influence on seizure outcomes. Pediatr Neurol. 2017;68:35-39.

    Methylene Blue

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Methylene Blue. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Nausea Additional detail

    Ketogenic Diet

    Recorded for Ketogenic Diet in the same Natural Medicines adverse-effect record shown under Headache above.

    Methylene Blue

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Methylene Blue. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Ketogenic Diet but not commonly for Methylene Blue: stomach upset, a higher chance of infection, blood clots and bone thinning.

Effects for Methylene Blue come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Ketogenic Diet come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Special populations

Ketogenic Diet in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Lactation Possibly Unsafe

When used orally without medical supervision. While rare, there are several case reports of lactation ketoacidosis thought to be associated with adherence to calorie-restricted and non-calorie-restricted ketogenic diets. The increased metabolic demand of breastfeeding, especially if exclusively breastfeeding, may increase the risk of lactation ketoacidosis in these individuals. In addition to metabolic changes, symptoms included nausea, vomiting, dizziness, dyspnea, lethargy, epigastric pain, and chest pain. In one case, the lactation ketoacidosis was life-threatening and required treatment in the intensive care unit with non-invasive ventilatory support and dextrose and insulin infusions. In this case, the patient was following a calorie-restricted, ketogenic diet and had lost 19 pounds over 3 weeks.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Methylene Blue

This page covers Ketogenic Diet only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Methylene Blue page lists 38 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Lithium (major), 5-htp (moderate), Acetyl-l-carnitine (moderate) and Ayahuasca (moderate).

By severity: 2 major · 25 moderate · 11 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Methylene Blue page

“The pairing I would worry about first with methylene blue (Urolene Blue, Provayblue) is anything that raises serotonin, and lithium heads that group with a major rating. Methylene blue inhibits monoamine oxidase A, the enzyme that breaks serotonin down, so combining it with serotonin-boosting supplements can tip someone into serotonin…”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Methylene Blue interaction page

How much people look this up

Where Ketogenic Diet and Methylene Blue Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Ketogenic Diet
Steady interest

#1,206 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Methylene Blue
Top 5%

#53 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Ketogenic Diet reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Ketogenic Diet and Methylene Blue records this page draws on were last updated July 11, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Eating pattern

About Ketogenic Diet

What is Ketogenic Diet?

  • Weight loss
  • Type 2 diabetes and blood sugar control
  • Drug-resistant epilepsy (especially in children)
  • Reducing appetite
  • Athletic and metabolic interest

The ketogenic diet is a very low-carbohydrate, high-fat eating plan that shifts the body to burn fat for fuel. It has the strongest evidence as a medical therapy for hard-to-treat epilepsy and may help short-term weight loss and blood sugar, but it can be hard to sustain and is not right for everyone. Talk with a doctor or pharmacist before starting, especially if you have a medical condition or take medication.

Whole-food eating plan; sometimes paired with MCT oil or exogenous ketone supplements

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Ketogenic Diet is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Ketogenic Diet record says about it on its own.

Ketogenic Diet: dosing

There is no single "dose" for a ketogenic diet. Instead, it is defined by how much of your calories come from fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Strict therapeutic versions used for epilepsy keep carbohydrates very low and are calculated carefully by a medical team. More relaxed low-carb versions allow somewhat more carbohydrate.If you try keto on your own, follow guidance from a reputable source and pay attention to food quality, hydration, and electrolytes. Children should only follow a medical ketogenic diet under specialist supervision.

From our Ketogenic Diet monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Ketogenic Diet monograph & all interactions
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Ketogenic Diet

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Ketogenic Diet — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
137Moderate
122Minor
2,570No known interaction
Moderate

137 interactions

Showing 60 of 137 moderate interactions — see all 137 on the Ketogenic Diet page.

Minor

122 interactions

Showing 60 of 122 minor interactions — see all 122 on the Ketogenic Diet page.

No interaction 2,570 drugs checked — show the list
Evidence & sources

Ketogenic Diet References

The 72 references that drive our Ketogenic Diet monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Liu H, Yang Y, Wang Y, et al. Ketogenic diet for treatment of intractable epilepsy in adults: A meta-analysis of observational studies. Epilepsia Open. 2018;3(1):9-17. PubMed
  2. Yancy WS Jr, Westman EC, McDuffie JR, et al. A randomized trial of a low-carbohydrate diet vs orlistat plus a low-fat diet for weight loss. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(2):136-45. PubMed
  3. Goday A, Bellido D, Sajoux I, et al. Short-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of a very low-calorie-ketogenic diet interventional weight loss program versus hypocaloric diet in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Nutr Diabetes. 2016;6(9):e230. PubMed
  4. Saslow LR, Mason AE, Kim S, et al. An online intervention comparing a very low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet and lifestyle recommendations versus a plate method diet in overweight individuals with type 2 diabetes: A randomized controlled trial. J Med Intern
  5. Hussain TA, Mathew TC, Dashti AA, Asfar S, Al-Zaid N, Dashti HM. Effect of low-calorie versus low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet in type 2 diabetes. Nutrition. 2012;28(10):1016-21. PubMed
  6. Martin-McGill KJ, Srikandarajah N, Marson AG, Tudur Smith C, Jenkinson MD. The role of ketogenic diets in the therapeutic management of adult and paediatric gliomas: a systematic review. CNS Oncol. 2018;7(2):CNS17.
  7. Michaels JD, Hoss E, DiCaudo DJ, Price H. Prurigo pigmentosa after a strict ketogenic diet. Pediatr Dermatol. 2015;32(2):248-51. PubMed
  8. Hawkes CP, Levine MA. Ketotic hypercalcemia: a case series and description of a novel entity. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2014;99(5):1531-6. PubMed
  9. Lima PA, de Brito Sampaio LP, Damasceno NR. Ketogenic diet in epileptic children: impact on lipoproteins and oxidative stress. Nutr Neurosci. 2015;18(8):337-44. PubMed
  10. Ulamek-Koziol M, Pluta R, Bogucka-Kocka A, Czuczwar SJ. To treat or not to treat drug-refractory epilepsy by the ketogenic diet? That is the question. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2016;23(4):533-536. PubMed
  11. Zahra A, Fath MA, Opat E, et al. Consuming a ketogenic diet while receiving radiation and chemotherapy for locally advanced lung cancer and pancreatic cancer: The University of Iowa experience of two phase 1 clinical trials. Radiat Res. 2017;187(6):743-75 PubMed
  12. Ahn WK, Park S, Kim HD. Protein-losing enteropathy as a complication of the ketogenic diet. Yonsei Med J. 2017;58(4):891-893. PubMed
  13. Winter SF, Loebel F, Dietrich J. Role of ketogenic metabolic therapy in malignant glioma: A systematic review. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2017;112:41-58. PubMed
  14. Kverneland M, Selmer KK, Nakken KO, Iversen PO, Taubøll E. A prospective study of the modified Atkins diet for adults with idiopathic generalized epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav. 2015;53:197-201. PubMed
  15. Ashrafi MR, Hosseini SA, Zamani GR, et al. The efficacy of the ketogenic diet in infants and young children with refractory epilepsies using a formula-based powder. Acta Neurol Belg. 2017;117(1):175-182. PubMed

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Following Ketogenic Diet While Taking Methylene Blue: Common Questions

Is it safe to follow Ketogenic Diet while taking Methylene Blue?
We do not list a known interaction between Ketogenic Diet and Methylene Blue. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Do Ketogenic Diet and Methylene Blue have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 6 of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
How was the Ketogenic Diet and Methylene Blue combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Methylene Blue is filed under 3 classifications, and Ketogenic Diet has documented interactions with 6 drug classes — none of Methylene Blue's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Ketogenic Diet interact with any other medications?
Yes. Ketogenic Diet has 259 documented drug interactions in our database — Methylene Blue is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Methylene Blue interact with any supplements?
Yes. Methylene Blue has documented interactions with 38 supplements in our database — Ketogenic Diet is not one of them. The Methylene Blue interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Still Have a Question About Methylene Blue and Ketogenic Diet?

Our pharmacists answer your medication & supplement questions — free.

Ask a pharmacist

This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.