The ketogenic or “keto” diet, which entails eating relatively few carbohydrates and a lot of fat, is becoming increasingly popular.
According to new research, a low-carb, high-fat “keto-like” diet may be associated to increased levels of “bad” cholesterol and double the risk of cardiovascular events such as clogged arteries, heart attacks, and strokes.
How Does Keto Diet Works?
Carbohydrates are the body’s first “go-to” fuel source for providing energy for daily living. Low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) diets, such as the keto diet, limit carbohydrate consumption (e.g., bread, pasta, rice, and other grains, baked goods, potato products such as fries and chips, and high-carbohydrate fruits and vegetables).
When the body is deprived of carbohydrates, it is forced to start breaking down fat for energy instead.
The breakdown of fat in the liver produces ketones, which the body uses as energy in the absence of carbohydrates—hence the name ketogenic, or “ketone producing.”
Proponents of a ketogenic diet generally recommend limiting carbohydrates to 10% of total daily calories, protein to 20% to 30% of total daily calories, and fat to 60% to 80% of total daily calories.
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Experts’ Discovery
The researchers compared the diets of 305 people following a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet to roughly 1,200 people following a conventional diet, using health data from the UK Biobank database, which followed people for at least a decade.
The researchers discovered that participants who followed the LCHF diet had increased levels of LDL (bad cholesterol), cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B.
Apolipoprotein B is a protein that coats LDL cholesterol proteins and can predict heart disease more accurately than high LDL cholesterol levels.
The researchers also discovered that LCHF diet participants consumed more saturated fat and consumed twice as much animal fat (33%) as those in the control group (16%).
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