CNN
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A low-carb, high-fat “keto-like” diet may be linked to higher levels of “bad” cholesterol and double the risk of cardiovascular events such as blocked arteries, heart attacks and strokes, according to a new study.
“Our study found that regular consumption of a self-reported low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet was associated with higher levels of LDL cholesterol – or ‘bad’ cholesterol – and a higher risk of heart disease “, the main author of the study Dr. Iulia. Iatan with the Healthy Heart Program Prevention Clinic, St. Paul and the University of British Columbia’s Center for Heart-Lung Innovation in Vancouver, Canada, said in a press release.
In the study, researchers defined a low-carbohydrate, high-fat (LCHF) diet as 45% of total daily calories coming from fat and 25% coming from carbohydrates. The study was presented on Sunday in American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session in conjunction with the World Congress of Cardiology.
“Our rationale for the study came from the fact that we would see patients in our cardiovascular prevention clinic with severe hypercholesterolemia following this diet,” Iatan said during a presentation at the session.
Hypercholesterolemia, or high cholesterol, increases a person’s risk of heart attack or other adverse cardiovascular events.
“This made us wonder about the relationship between these low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets, lipid levels, and cardiovascular disease. And so, despite that, there is limited data on this relationship,” she said.
Researchers compared the diets of 305 people eating an LCHF diet with about 1,200 people eating a standard diet, using health information from the UK Biobank database, which followed people for at least a decade.
Researchers found that people on the LCHF diet had higher levels of low-density lipoprotein, also known as LDL, cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B. Apolipoprotein B is a protein that coats LDL cholesterol proteins and may predict heart disease better. than elevated LDL cholesterol levels. can.
The researchers also noted that the total fat intake of the LCHF diet participants was higher in saturated fat and had twice the consumption of animal sources (33%) compared to those in the control group (16%).
“After an average of 11.8 years of follow-up – and after adjusting for other risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and smoking – people on the LCHF diet had more than twice the risk to have several major cardiovascular events, such as blockages in arteries that needed to be opened with stenting procedures, heart attack, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease,” the researchers found, according to the news release.
The researchers said in the release that their study “can only show an association between diet and an increased risk of major cardiac events, not a causal relationship,” because it was an observational study, but their findings are worth further study. ,” especially when roughly 1 in 5 Americans report being on a low-carb, keto, or full keto diet.
Iatan said limitations of the study included measurement errors that occur when dietary assessments are self-reported, the study’s small sample size and that the majority of participants were British and did not include other ethnic groups.
The study also looked at the long-term effect of following the diet, as most people who follow a diet like this tend to follow it intermittently for shorter periods of time.
The majority of participants — 73% — were women, which Iatan said is “quite interesting to see, but also supports the literature that’s available that women in general tend to follow more dietary patterns, tend to be more interested in changing their lifestyle.”
When asked if there was any group that wasn’t harmed by following an LCHF diet, Iatan said how long people are on the diet and whether or not they lose weight “could offset any increase in LDL.”
“What’s important to remember is that every patient responds differently. And so, there really is inter-individual variability between the response. What we found is that, you know, on average, patients tend to increase their LDL cholesterol levels,” she said.
Most health experts say that Keto diet in fashion, which stops carbs from making your body burn fat for fuel, eliminates healthy food like fruits, beans and legumes, and whole grains. On the keto diet, you limit your carbohydrate intake to just 20 to 50 a day—the fewer, the better. To put this in perspective, a medium banana or apple has about 27 carbs – the full day’s worth.
Keto is short for ketosis, a metabolic state that occurs when your liver starts using stored fat to produce ketones for energy. The liver is programmed to do this when your body loses access to its preferred fuel – carbohydrates – and thinks it’s starving.
The keto diet has been around since the 1920s, when a doctor discovered it as a way to control seizures in children with epilepsy who did not respond to other treatment methods.
Low-carb diets like these rely heavily on fat to fill you up. At least 70% of the keto diet will consist of fat; some say it’s more like 90%.
While you can get all that fat from healthy unsaturated fats like avocado, tofu, nuts, seeds and olive oil, the diet also allows for saturated fats like lard, butter and coconut oil, as well as full-fat milk, cheese and mayonnaise. Eating too many foods high in saturated fat increases the body’s production of LDL cholesterol, which can build up inside the arteries and restrict blood flow to the heart and brain.
