CNN
—
A low-carb, high-fat “keto-like” diet can be linked to high levels of “body” cholesterol and double the risk of cardiovascular events such as blocked arteries, heart attacks and strokes, according to new research.
“Our study found that regular consumption of food that was self-reported as low in carbohydrates and high in saturated fat was associated with an increase in LDL cholesterol – or the “body” cholesterol — and a higher risk of heart disease,” lead author Dr. Iulia O Iatan with the Healthy Heart Program Prevention Clinic, St. Paul’s Hospital and the University of British Columbia’s Center for Heart Lung Innovation in Vancouver, Canada, said in a news release.
“This study makes an important contribution to the scientific literature, and it shows that the harms outweigh the benefits,” said Christopher Gardner, a clinical research expert at the Stanford Prevention Research Center who led the study. in clinical trials on the keto diet. Gardner was not involved in the study.
“High LDL cholesterol should not be dismissed as a negative effect of the VLCD (ketogenic diet) or ketogenic,” Gardner said, pointing to the increased risk of cardiovascular events in people with high ketone levels in the blood. , compared to those on a normal diet.
In the study, researchers defined a low-fat, high-fat (LCHF) diet as 45% of total daily calories coming from fat and 25% from coming from carbohydrates. The study, which was not peer-reviewed, was presented Sunday at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session Together With the World Congress of Cardiology.
“Our reasoning came from the knowledge that we see patients in our cardiovascular care department with severe hypercholesterolemia after this diet,” said Iatan during a presentation at the conference. .
Hypercholesterolemia, or high cholesterol, increases a person’s risk of heart attack or other heart problems.
“This led us to think about the relationship between these low-fat, high-fat, lipid levels and cardiovascular disease. And so, despite this, there are data on this relationship,” he said. .
Researchers compared the diets of 305 people eating a LCHF diet with around 1,200 people eating a normal diet, using health information from the UK Biobank database, which followed people for at least ten years.
Researchers have found that high levels of low-density lipoprotein, also known as LDL, cholesterol and apolipoprotein B. Apolipoprotein B is a protein that coats LDL cholesterol proteins and can predict early heart disease. of high levels of LDL cholesterol. be able to.
The researchers also found that those on the LCHF diet had more saturated fat and doubled their intake of animal sources (33%) compared to those on the of the control group (16%).
“After an average of 11.8 years of follow-up – and after controlling for other risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and smoking – people on the LCHF diet are more than twice as likely to have some serious cardiovascular events, such as blockages in the arteries that need to be removed with procedures stenting, heart attack, stroke and peripheral arterial disease,” the researchers found, according to the news release.
The researchers said in the release that their study “may indicate an association between diet and increased risk for major cardiac events, not a causal relationship,” because the study review, but their findings require further research, “especially. indicating that about 1 in 5 Americans are on a low keto, keto-like or complete diet.
Iatan said the study’s limitations included measurement errors when food reviews were reported, the study’s small size and the majority of participants being British and non-British. which included other nations.
The study also looked at the long-term effects of following the diet, as most people who follow a keto-like diet only follow it for short periods of time.
Most of the participants – 73% – were women, which Iatan said was “good to see, but also supports the literature that women in general have to follow the food type, very interested in changing their lifestyle.”
When asked if there are groups that are not harmed by following a LCHF diet, Iatan said how long people have been on the diet and if they have not lost weight “can be compared to someone high LDL.”
“The important thing to remember is that every patient’s response is different. And so, there really is a difference between the response. What we found, you know, on average, the patients in their LDL cholesterol levels,” he said.
Dr. David Katz, a nutritionist who was not involved in the study, said, “There are different ways to combine an LCHF diet, and they may not have different effects on serum lipids. or cardiac events.”
However, he added, “The LCHF diet is associated with negative results in this study, which is true for those who are taking such diets because they are in vogue. .”
Most health experts recommend a regular keto diet, which blocks the acids your body burns fat for fuel, cutting out healthy foods like fruits, beans and legumes, and whole grains. On the keto diet, you limit your carbohydrate intake to just 20 to 50 servings a day — the lower, the better. For comparison, a banana or an apple has about 27 carbs – a full day’s worth of food.
“Those food groups that need to be eliminated to achieve ketosis are a great source of dietary fiber, as well as other nutrients, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. This is of concern to health professionals. considering the VLCD or ketogenic diet is dangerous for long-term health,” Gardner said.
Keto is short for ketosis, a metabolic state that occurs when your liver begins to use stored fat to make ketones for energy. The liver is designed to do just that when your body loses its preferred fuel – carbohydrates – and you feel hungry.
The keto diet has been around since the 1920s, when doctors discovered it as a way to control seizures in children with epilepsy that didn’t respond to other treatments.
Low-carb diets like keto rely heavily on fats to fill you up. About 70% of the keto diet is made up of fat; some say it’s over 90%.
While you can get all that fat from healthy unsaturated fats like avocados, tofu, nuts, seeds and olive oil, eating saturated fats like saturated fat, butter and coconut oil, and whole milk, cheese and mayonnaise. Eating foods high in saturated fat increases the body’s LDL cholesterol, which can build up in the arteries and block blood flow to the heart and brain.