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| Health Risks from Going Keto |
The excitement of the keto diet shows no signs of slowing down: Low carbohydrate regimens are still massively popular, with celebrities like Al Roker and Jenna Jameson praising the diet for serious weight loss in recent months.
It's easy to see why diets that promise fast results - and that technically allow you to continue to enjoy food like burgers and cheese - will be very tempting. But before you try it, it's important to realize that keto can also have its weaknesses and that there are many health experts who still don't know about its long-term effects on the body.
Following the keto diet for long periods of time can be difficult, and even some of its main supporters warn against adherence to strict guidelines (such as reducing carbohydrates to 50 grams a day or less) for more than 30 to 90 days. Other researchers warn that maintaining a long-term diet can even be dangerous. Here are some reasons.
Limiting carbohydrates to 50 grams a day or less may mean you cut unhealthy foods such as white bread and refined sugar. But that also means you may have to reduce certain fruits and vegetables, which are also a source of carbohydrates.
That is a concern, said Annette Frain, RD, program director with the Weight Management Center at Wake Forest Baptist Health, especially if someone spends more than a few weeks on this type of diet. "Fruits and vegetables are good for us; they are high in antioxidants and full of vitamins and minerals, "he said." If you eliminate them, you don't get them from time to time. "
It may also be difficult to get enough fiber when you reduce carbohydrates, because whole grains are one of the biggest sources of this important nutrient. It can cause digestive problems (from constipation to diarrhea), bloating and weight gain, and even high cholesterol and blood pressure.
There is no shortage of athletes who jump on the keto bandwagon, but some researchers worry that they can actually sabotage their strength and fitness. In a recent study in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, the researchers found that participants performed worse on high-intensity cycling and performed tasks after four days on the ketogenic diet compared to those who spent four days on a high-carbohydrate diet. .
The body is in a more acidic state while in ketosis, lead researcher Edward Weiss, PhD, professor of nutrition and dietetics at Saint Louis University, previously told Health, which could limit his ability to perform at peak levels.
Of course, keto can help athletes lose weight, which can help for speed and endurance. "But I'm very worried that people attribute the benefits of weight loss to something specific on the ketogenic diet," Weiss said. "In fact, the benefits of weight loss can be at least partially canceled by a decline in performance."
Because the keto diet is very strict, many variations of the diet recommend combining several stages. The first stage, usually the first to three months, is very low in carbohydrates and allows very few "cheating days," if at all. You also have to keep the consumption of carbohydrates and fats close to make sure your body enters ketosis.
But then, people can turn to a more relaxed keto form that allows more carbohydrates or less monitoring - sometimes known as lazy keto, keto cycling, or "maintenance mode," as Jenna Jameson calls it. The problem here, said Frain, is that weight gain is almost inevitable.
"Keto can be a good first step to losing weight, but the truth is that most people cannot obey it for a long time," said Frain. "Often, people go into ketosis and lose weight, then get out and get back and fall into this yo-yo pattern, and that's not what we want." Besides being very frustrated, he said, these heavy types of fluctuations are also associated with a higher risk of early death.
The type of weight you get back is also important. If you lose weight the first time you start using keto, chances are you lose some muscle mass along with fat tissue, said Kristen Kizer, RD, a nutritionist at the Houston Methodist Medical Center. Now, because you are on a high-fat diet, you might get back more fat and less lean muscle - which not only looks and feels different in the body, but also burns calories at a slower rate. This can affect your metabolism and make it more difficult to lose weight again in the future.
Enjoying "cheat days" in the short term on the ketogenic diet can also have long-term consequences, said researchers from the University of British Columbia. In a recent study published in Nutrients, they found that indulging in high sugar treats (like a large bottle of soda) while on a high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet can actually damage blood vessels.
"My concern is that many people who are on the keto diet - whether to lose weight, to treat type 2 diabetes, or other health reasons - may eliminate some of the positive effects on their blood vessels if they suddenly expel them. with glucose, "said senior author Jonathan Little, associate professor at the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, in a press release. "Our data shows that the ketogenic diet is not something you do for six days a week and Saturday holidays."
Health experts worry about how a long-term keto-style diet can affect the heart and arteries. An unpublished study, presented at the annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology, found that people on low-carbohydrate diets were more likely to develop atrial fibrillation (AFib) compared to those who ate moderate amounts of carbohydrates. AFib is the most common heart rhythm disorder and increases the risk of stroke and heart failure.
It's not only their hearts that worry too. The study presented earlier this year at the European Congress of Cardiology Society found that people who followed a low-carbohydrate and high-fat diet had a higher risk of dying from cancer and all other causes during the study period. And a recent study in the Lancet also found that low-carbohydrate dieters who consumed a lot of meat and dairy products had a higher risk of early death than those who consumed moderate amounts of carbohydrates or those who consumed mostly vegetable protein.
Most of these studies, worthy of being shown, are still observational - meaning they can only find relationships with certain health outcomes and not causal relationships. Frain said that, overall, there were not enough long-term studies to know exactly what the ketogenic diet did for the body over a long period of time - or why it affected several people differently than others.
But he advises anyone who thinks about trying keto to work for balance, not for extremes. "It's important to see what you miss in your diet and what is truly sustainable for you," he said. "You want to make sure you get satisfaction and satiety from the food you eat and that you feel good and get extraordinary nutrients from various foods. That is what will help you maintain it and maintain your weight. "