Keto Diet Downsides May Outweigh Benefits, Review Suggests !

Keto Diet Downsides May Outweigh Benefits, Review Suggests !

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Considering the high-fat, low-carb diet? An analysis of 120 studies found you may want to proceed with caution.
If you’ve been weighing the pros and cons of the ketogenic diet, one of the most fiercely debated eating plans, a new review suggests the downsides may eclipse the benefits.


The analysis, published in the July 2021 issue of Frontiers in Nutrition, examines the potential long-term risks of the keto diet, which is a very low-carb, high-fat style of eating. People on this restrictive diet typically get 70 to 80 percent of their daily calories from fat, 5 to 10 percent from carbohydrates, and 10 to 20 percent from protein, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans say most people should get 20 to 35 percent of their daily calories from fat, 45 to 65 percent from carbs, and 10 to 35 percent from protein.)


The new review examined more than 120 studies, says one of its authors, Neal Barnard, MD, of Washington, DC, the president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The PCRM is a nonprofit that promotes a plant-based diet, which is essentially the opposite of the meat-heavy keto diet.


“There have been a great many hints about the risks of ketogenic diets for a long time, and this review really brings the evidence that the ketogenic diet, for some people, causes weight loss,” Dr. Barnard says. “But even when it does, the risks greatly outweigh any benefit — and the weight-loss benefits are short-lived for most people, anyway.”


A Keto Diet May Be Harmful for Certain People.
The review highlights five key findings. Among them: The keto diet is particularly unsafe for women who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant. That’s because low-carb diets are linked to a higher risk of neural tube defects in babies. Barnard says: “You're not eating the things that you need for a healthy baby on a typical ketogenic diet. You're not having the vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.” For unplanned pregnancies in particular, he said, the risk of neural tube defects is 89 percent higher for those on a low-carb diet.


Another finding: Keto diets raise levels of LDL cholesterol (commonly known as “bad” cholesterol) for many people — when, typically, you would expect to see those levels drop when you lose weight, Barnard says. In a six-month study that the review cites, 30 percent of participants experienced LDL cholesterol increases greater than 10 percent.


Keto diets high in protein may also cause kidney stones, plus hasten kidney disease in those with kidney disease, the review found. “That is probably because the kidneys’ job is to filter out toxins from the blood. And if you're eating a big load of animal proteins, it's just harder on the kidney,” Barnard says.


Speaking of animal proteins: Eating lots of red meat, processed meat, and saturated fat — which many people typically do on the keto diet — may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease, according to the review.


Food components typical of a ketogenic diet, such as red and processed meats, are linked to increased cancer risk, the study authors write. “Whole grains, fruits, and vegetables are linked to a lower risk of both cancer and all-cause mortality, yet, with the exception of nonstarchy vegetables, these foods are commonly avoided on ketogenic diets.” The study authors add that long-term data on a possible link between cancer and ketogenic diets is lacking, and that no long-term data on ketogenic diets and Alzheimer’s disease is available.

A keto diet is an eating plan that focuses on foods that provide a lot of healthful fats, adequate amounts of protein, and very few carbohydrates. The goal is to get more calories from fat than from carbs. The diet works by depleting the body of its sugar reserves. As a result, it will start to break down fat for energy. This results in the production of molecules called ketones that the body uses for fuel. When the body burns fats, it can also lead to weight loss. There are several types of keto diet, including the Standard Ketogenic Diet and the Cyclical Ketogenic Diet.