WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new study from the University of Utah, published in Science Advances, looked at the long-term effects of the ketogenic (keto) diet and found several potential concerns about its safety for metabolic health.
The keto diet works by cutting carbohydrates so drastically that the body enters a state called ketosis, where it burns fat for energy instead of glucose. This process can help control seizures and has made the diet popular for weight loss. However, most past research has only studied short-term effects.
To understand what happens over a longer period, researchers studied male and female mice for at least nine months. The mice were given one of four diets- a high-fat Western diet, a low-fat high-carb diet, a traditional keto diet made almost entirely of fat, or a protein-matched low-fat diet.
Throughout the study, the researchers tracked body weight, eating habits, liver fat, blood sugar, insulin levels, and changes happening inside the mice's pancreatic cells, which help control blood sugar.
The researchers observed that the keto diet did help prevent weight gain compared to the high-fat Western diet, and mice on keto stayed noticeably lighter. However, despite this benefit, these mice developed serious metabolic problems.
The effects differed in males and females. Male mice developed severe fatty liver and poor liver function, which are signs of metabolic disease, whereas female mice did not show any significant liver fat buildup.
Another major issue was that the mice on keto struggled to regulate their blood sugar. Their pancreatic cells were not releasing enough insulin, likely because the high-fat environment caused cellular stress and disrupted how these cells moved proteins. This stress is thought to be a key reason for the impaired blood sugar control.
However, the encouraging part is that when the mice stopped the keto diet, their blood sugar regulation improved, suggesting that some of these negative effects may be reversible.
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