Everyday when I scroll on Pinterest there are a multitude of articles that say something like, “Ketogenic Diet for Beginners!” Or “The Ultimate Food List for Keto Diet!” All of these articles are from women who have tried it and couple these headlines with transformation pictures of themselves ending up with six packs. They all begin with something like, “The ketogenic diet is a low carb, high fat diet that gets your body into a metabolic state of fat burning. It goes into ketosis which is a process where out liver produces ketones to use as energy instead of using carbs and glucose.”
A study that gave mice different types of diets (low carb and high fat, high fat, regular chow, and a low calorie food) and found that a ketogenic diet is good for weight loss and then maintaining a stable weight (Kennedy, 2007). It also lead to changes in metabolic functions in the liver and changes in gene expression that help with weight loss. They also gave this diet to the mice who ate the high fat chow at first and found significant weight loss after 14 days. This could be a good diet to look into for people that struggle with obesity and diabetes.
The other study was more of an explanation of the specifics in the biochemistry/physiology and using other studies to make a fact list of the diet (Mann, 2004). It talks about how ketoacidosis (found in type 1 diabetes) and ketosis are two different amounts of ketone bodies and ketosis maintains a normal blood pH, unlike ketoacidosis. It also mentions that there is no clear requirement for the amount of carbs a human adults should be having everyday, random people say there should be 100-150 g a day but there is no sufficient evidence because the Mayo Clinic says adults should eat 225-325 g of carbs a day.
Overall, it seems there is some science behind this new fad diet that could help people who really struggle with their weight whether it’s obesity or diabetes. There still needs to be some studies done that focus on the longevity of this diet or if this should be a couple month regimen, but it can help people lose some quick weight when they need to.
Pinterest article: https://www.merakilane.com/ketogenic-diet-plan-weight-loss-7-day-keto-meal-plan-menu/
Kennedy, A. R., Pissios, P., Otu, H., Xue, B., Asakura, K., Furukawa, N., . . . Maratos-Flier, E. (2007). A high-fat, ketogenic diet induces a unique metabolic state in mice. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 292(6). https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpendo.00717.2006
Manninen, A. H. (2004). Metabolic Effects of the Very-Low-Carbohydrate Diets: Misunderstood "Villains" of Human Metabolism. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 1(2), 7. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129159/
Great post Liv! You make some very interesting points regarding the keto diet and its effects on metabolism and obesity. Recently, Dr. Campisi taught us that women are not small men, and that they have a complex menstrual cycle that affects women's ability to properly maintain body temperature, protein synthesis, water retention, and sodium retention among other things. Do you think that the keto diet would effect women similarly to men? Women tend to store more fat in intramuscular storages and also break down protein faster and synthesize less in the Luteal phase. It is odd to me then that this is a very effective diet, as it consists of a lot of fats and low carbs. I would think that a low carb and high protein diet with exercise would work more efficiently for women trying to lose weight or gain muscle. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI have actually done the Ketogenic diet, and lost a lot of weight. From what I read, and how I manipulated the diet, you basically teach your body to use the stored glucose as your source of energy instead of what you eat. The first couple of days I noticed headaches, fatigue, and other symptoms they call the "Keto flu". During this time, from the sources I read, your body is wanting you to ingest more carbohydrates due to your new diet lacking them, while it is "learning" to consume the provided fat sources. After three days of this, not only did I feel fine, but had a surplus of energy. I did notice that while working out, muscle fatigue did happen faster, which makes sense due to the lack of glycogen your body can store in your muscles and liver. One thing I thought was interesting is that the diet sources recommend taking pee strips to test whether you are in "ketosis" based on the ketone levels in your urine. After the keto flu, i performed one of the tests and it showed that I was in ketosis, the fat burning phase. Since then I have taken the test again to see the validity of them, and according to the strips I am not currently in ketosis, which makes sense since I have been off of the diet for a couple of weeks. The important note I found was that since you are cutting carbs out of your diet, you feel like you need to increase protein in your diet, which is incorrect. As we learned in class, too much protein can be turned into glucose within your body. Since you are trying to limit the presence of glucose, they recommend only eating 30-40 grams of protein per meal. I really enjoyed this diet and hope to start it back up soon. If anyone has questions about it, feel free to ask.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic. I have not done the keto diet, but like you I have begun to see its emergence more frequently in today's society. Most people are looking for a quick fix to weight loss and I believe this keto diet would be a better option than having liposuction. Altering your intake of fats and carbs would create a longer lasting impact on weight loss. Even though you said there needs to be more research done in this area from a biological standpoint, I think altering habits are more beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post, Liv. I have several close relatives who are actively trying out new diet fads and exercise routines to lose weight, and this diet is very interesting. I remember actually talking with Dr. Chamberlin in my Biochemistry class last year about ketogenic diets, and there can be negative health outcomes from this diet as well as positives. If I remember correctly, the keto diet is great for weight loss, but is not very sustainable. Just recently, I found an article that talks about the long term effects of going on a ketogenic diet, and the results are interesting. It describes a study in which a few groups of mice were fed different diets, one being the ketogenic, and another a normal chow diet. The ketogenic diet seemed beneficial in lowering plasma glucose after fasting for 6 hours compared with other diets. But these mice also had signs of glucose intolerance and impaired insulin sensitivity in the long run. The ketogenic diet was actually deemed less metabolically healthy than both a chow diet and a high-fat diet. Personally, I am not a fan of the ketogenic diet, and I think that diets with strict portion control should be paired with regular exercise. But nonetheless, this ketogenic diet is extremely interesting! Metabolism is so intricate and complex, and how we choose to manipulate it to try to get healthy results is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteHere is the article that I found:
Evans, M. (2018). Keto diets: Good, bad or ugly? The Journal of Physiology, 596(19), 4561-4561. doi:10.1113/jp276703
Theresa, thanks for sharing, I really enjoyed reading your comment and your critique of ketogenic diets in general. However, I have some issues with Mark Evans essay as well as the primary research article that he addresses in his article. One point that Mark brings up himself is that the diet used for the tested rats, and their subsequent blood tests, were only tracked for three days, which means that they were primarily interested in the initial changes that take place with the change to a ketogenic diet. While it is important to be aware of these changes, it is also important to acknowledge that negative side effects are also observed, and well recognized, in humans when they initially make the change to a ketogenic diet; Kyle even mentions his experience with the "Keto flu" in his post above. Therefore, I think its unfair to talk about these changes occurring in the "long run." One article I found actually observed this phenomenon specifically and found that ketogenic diets improved glucose tolerance and insulin signaling in mice, compared to mice on the same obesogenic high fat diet, after a 12 week period (Kennedy et al., 2007).
DeleteI also took issue with the macromolecule breakdown that was used for the different feed groups included in the study. Evans mentions that carbohydrates only accounted for <0.5% of calories in the ketogenic diet even though "low-carb" diets for humans typically recommend that individuals consume anywhere from 4% - 40% of their caloric intake from carbohydrates. Even the low end of this spectrum is a ~10 fold increase in carbohydrate consumption compared to the ketogenic condition in the study.
Lastly, I was a bit confused about your comment regarding "portion control" and whether you were referring to overall calories consumed or calories consumed/macromolecule. Regardless, I did want to mention that one of the benefits I have often heard and read about, regarding a ketogenic diet, is that individuals on this diet are often encouraged to eat as needed and are simply discouraged from overeating (Kennedy et al., 2007). The main reason for this being that the form in which calories are consumed (i.e. what macromolecule they are) is far more important than the number of calories themselves.
Grandl, G., Straub, L., Rudigier, C., Arnold, M., Wueest, S., Konrad, D., Wolfrum, C. (2018). Short-term feeding of a ketogenic diet induces more severe hepatic insulin resistance than an obesogenic high-fat diet. The Journal of Physiology, 596(19), 4597-4609. doi:10.1113/JP275173
Kennedy, A. R., Pissios, P., Otu, H., Xue, B., Asakura, K., Furukawa, N.,... Marino, F. E. (2007). A high-fat, ketogenic diet induces a unique metabolic state in mice. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology Metabolism, 292, E1724-E1739. doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00717.2006.
The keto diet is a controversial topic. I agree with Theresa that it is not typically sustainable for a long period of time. Once the desired weight loss has been achieved, it is important to add in foods that are not allowed on the keto diet. However, I also think that it is an effective and rapid method of weight loss for many people.
ReplyDeleteThis diet can also help people in other ways. I volunteered with a man this summer who works for a company that uses a diet almost identical to the keto diet in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. This makes sense because on the keto diet, less sugar is consumed. With a smaller amount of overall sugar intake, the small amount of insulin that the body is able to produce, is enough to regulate the sugars in the body. In fact, some of the people he works with have been able to reduce and eventually stop the medications they were on to control their diabetes because the keto diet allows for enough blood sugar regulation without the medication. It is clear that this is not a one size fits all solution and it is important to look at the long term effects of this as a diabetes treatment, but the fact that some people are helped so immensely by the keto diet is incredible. As with all popular diets, it is important to continue research in order to determine the risks that may come with the diet, but it is also encouraging that people could experience weight loss and diabetes improvement with the help of the keto diet.