Is Keto Worth the Risk? New Study Casts Doubt on Its Safety.

New research suggests that the keto diet may put us at risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and irritable bowel syndrome, to name a few concerns.

The study was small, but the results may make people think twice about whether the keto diet has a problem.

Led by researchers at the University of Bath (UoB) in the UK, the team had 53 healthy adults follow one of three diets for 4 to 12 weeks: a low-fat diet carb ketogenic (keto), a low-carb diet, or a moderate-carb diet.

They found that the keto diet increases cholesterol, reduces good gut bacteria, and reduces the body’s ability to tolerate glucose, switching the body’s energy source from glucose to fat.

Low-sugar diets and keto diets have led to fat loss without affecting the levels of people who are physically active. It appears that people hoping to get leaner are better off cutting back on added sugar, not carbs, in their diet.

“The ketogenic diet works well for fat loss, but it comes with different effects on the metabolism and the microbiome that may not suit everyone,” explains physiologist Dylan Thompson. of UoB.

“On the other hand, sugar restriction supports government guidelines for reducing free sugar intake, promoting fat loss without negative health consequences.”

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Those on the keto diet ate less than 8 percent of their carbohydrates. A low-sugar diet included less than 5 percent of energy from free sugars — added to foods and beverages or found in fruit juices, syrups and honey .

These were compared to a control diet with moderate sugar and carbohydrates, where free sugars contributed around 18 percent of energy intake.

In the fourth week of the keto diet, the diversity of the participants’ microbes had changed, with a significant reduction in the amount of food. Bifidobacteria, which you may know as one of the heroes of probiotics.

These bacteria rely on food fibers that are cut by 40 percent of the keto diet compared to a moderate sugar and carb diet, and the fact that this change in bacteria continued for a week of 12 of the keto diet is proof that the diet can cause. this inner turmoil.

The effect of the keto diet on cholesterol was specific to the researchers, while the participants of the low-sugar diet had actually reduced their total cholesterol in the 12th week of the study.

“Despite reducing fat mass, the ketogenic diet increased levels of unhealthy fats in the blood of our participants,” says UoB nutritionist Aaron Hengeist.

“If it lasts for years, [this] it can have long-term health effects such as an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.”

Although the keto diet reduces fasting sugar, it also reduces the body’s ability to process carbs from food, the researchers explain.

“By measuring proteins in muscle samples taken from the legs of the participants, we think that this is probably an adaptive response to a low daily carbohydrate intake and reflects insulin resistance to store carbohydrates in among muscles,” says UoB anthropologist Javier Gonzalez.

People on the keto diet had increased levels of the enzyme PDK4 in their skeletal muscles, which is seen in type 2 diabetes. The diet also reduced levels of the enzyme AMPK and the protein GLUT4, which play an important role in glucose metabolism.

“Insulin resistance is not a bad thing if people follow a ketogenic diet, but if these changes persist when people return to a high-carbohydrate diet it can increase the risk of developing diabetes,” says Gonzalez. type 2 for a long time,” Gonzalez says. .

This research was published in Cell Reports Medicine.