'Keto-like’ diet might increase risk of heart disease, study shows
4 min read . Updated: 06 Mar 2023, 03:39 PM IST
Premium- The study showed that 9.8 percent of participants on an low-carb, high-fat (LCHF diet experienced a new cardiac event as compared to 4.3 percent of those on a standard diet.
The ketogenic or “keto" diet has gained popularity has has been followed by many for their diet regime. This diet basically prioritizes high amounts of fat and low amounts of carbs. Proponents of a ketogenic diet generally suggest limiting carbohydrates to 10 percent of total daily calories, protein to 20 percent to 30 percent and obtaining 60 percent to 80 percent of daily calories from fat. But, a recent new research has said that the low-carb, high-fat “keto-like" diet may double the risk of cardiovascular events blocked arteries, heart attacks, and strokes. Not just this, it might also be associated to higher blood levels of “bad" cholesterol.
The study on 5 March was presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session together with the World Congress of Cardiology. The lead author of the study Dr Iulia Iatan said that their study is one of the first to examine the association between this type of dietary pattern and cardiovascular outcomes.
“Our study found that regular consumption of a self-reported diet low in carbohydrates and high in fat was associated with increased levels of LDL cholesterol – or “bad" cholesterol – and a higher risk of heart disease," lead author Iatan, from St. Paul’s Hospital and University of British Columbia’s Centre for Heart Lung Innovation in Vancouver, Canada said.
For this study, Iatan and her colleagues defined an Low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) diet as consisting of no more than 25 percent of total daily energy or calories from carbohydrates and more than 45 percent of total daily calories from fat. They dubbed this an LCHF diet and “keto-like" because it is somewhat higher in carbohydrates and lower in fat than a strict ketogenic diet.
The researchers during their 11 years of study identified 305 participants who were on LCHF with 1200 people who were on a standard diet. The researchers used the database called UK Biobank, a database with health information from over half a million people living in the country.
After an average of 11.8 years of follow-up, it was found that people on an LCHF diet had more than two-times higher risk of having several major cardiovascular events, such as blockages in the arteries that needed to be opened with stenting procedures, heart attack, stroke and peripheral arterial disease, it said.
The study showed that 9.8 percent of participants on an LCHF diet experienced a new cardiac event as compared to 4.3 percent of those on a standard diet.
“Among the participants on an LCHF diet, we found that those with the highest levels of LDL cholesterol were at the highest risk for a cardiovascular event," Iatan said.
Iatan further said, “Our findings suggest that people who are considering going on an LCHF diet should be aware that doing so could lead to an increase in their levels of LDL cholesterol."
The study also suggested that before starting LCHF dietary pattern, people should consult a health care provider. "While on the diet, it is recommended they have their cholesterol levels monitored and should try to address other risk factors for heart disease or stroke, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, physical inactivity and smoking."
The study’s findings also suggest that not everyone responds to an LCHF diet in the same way. It said that cholesterol levels tend to rise on this diet, but some people’s cholesterol concentrations can stay the same or go down, depending on several underlying factors.
Dr Iatan also said that there are inter-individual differences in how people respond to dietary pattern. The study also said that, "As the study was observational, it can only show an association between the diet and an increased risk for major cardiac events, not a causal relationship. However, Iatan said the findings merit further research in prospectively designed studies, especially when approximately 1 in 5 Americans report being on a low-carb, keto-like or full keto diet.
In another study on Ketonic diet from the Tulane University said that when compared popular diets on both nutritional quality and environmental impact found that the keto and paleo diets, as eaten by American adults, scored among the lowest on overall nutrition quality and were among the highest on carbon emissions. On the other end of the spectrum, a vegan diet was found to be the least impactful on climate, generating 0.7 kg of carbon dioxide per 1,000 calories consumed, less than a quarter of the impact of the keto diet. The vegan diet was followed by vegetarian and pescatarian diets in increasing impact. The keto diet was estimated to generate almost 3 kg of carbon dioxide for every 1,000 calories consumed.
A 2021 United Nations-backed study found that 34 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from the food system. The major share of those emissions come from food production, with beef being responsible for 8-10 times more emissions than chicken production and over 20 times more emissions than nut and legume production.
(With inputs from ANI)