Keto diet linked to higher risk of heart disease (CVD) and stroke

[haidut]

The controversy over low-carb diets is steadily increasing. While such diets are still all the rage on popular podcasts and blogs, many academic researchers and practicing clinicians have started to distance themselves from the diet and no longer recommend it to their patients due to the negative evidence that has accumulated over the last 3-5 years. The study below adds one more piece of evidence against adopting low-carb diets. The study is observational, so it should be taken with a grain of salt, but it is among a long list of similar such studies covering very large, heterogeneous populations around the world.

Self-reported keto diet associated with higher LDL-c and apoB levels and increased MACE - PACE-CME
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/05/health/keto-low-carb-high-fat-diets-heart-disease/index.html

"...“After an average of 11.8 years of follow-up – and after adjustment for other risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and smoking – people on an LCHF diet had more than two-times higher risk of having several major cardiovascular events, such as blockages in the arteries that needed to be opened with stenting procedures, heart attack, stroke and peripheral arterial disease,” researchers found, according to the news release. The researchers said in the release that their study “can only show an association between the diet and an increased risk for major cardiac events, not a causal relationship,” because it was an observational study, but their findings are worth further study, “especially when approximately 1 in 5 Americans report being on a low-carb, keto-like or full keto diet.”"

 

[BeanSprouts]

Not surprising since you can look at the average guy on keto + exogenous testosterone and he looks like a walking heart attack.

 

[wtf]

I always wonder about the saturation level of the fat in those diets and the overall nutrition level. One could be eating pork/chicken and loading up on safflower oil veggie stir fries and be LCHF. And with the general recommendations these days...

 

[J.R.K]

The controversy over low-carb diets is steadily increasing. While such diets are still all the rage on popular podcasts and blogs, many academic researchers and practicing clinicians have started to distance themselves from the diet and no longer recommend it to their patients due to the negative evidence that has accumulated over the last 3-5 years. The study below adds one more piece of evidence against adopting low-carb diets. The study is observational, so it should be taken with a grain of salt, but it is among a long list of similar such studies covering very large, heterogeneous populations around the world.

Self-reported keto diet associated with higher LDL-c and apoB levels and increased MACE - PACE-CME
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/05/health/keto-low-carb-high-fat-diets-heart-disease/index.html

"...“After an average of 11.8 years of follow-up – and after adjustment for other risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and smoking – people on an LCHF diet had more than two-times higher risk of having several major cardiovascular events, such as blockages in the arteries that needed to be opened with stenting procedures, heart attack, stroke and peripheral arterial disease,” researchers found, according to the news release. The researchers said in the release that their study “can only show an association between the diet and an increased risk for major cardiac events, not a causal relationship,” because it was an observational study, but their findings are worth further study, “especially when approximately 1 in 5 Americans report being on a low-carb, keto-like or full keto diet.”"

Thanks for posting this @haidiut. In a recent interview with Patrick Timpone Bart Kay was highly critical of Paul Saladino’s choice to reintroduce carbs back into his diet, claiming that he would due to the high energy needs of his highly active lifestyle, that the carbs would wreak havoc upon his entire cardiovascular system. It is good to see the evidence showing the opposite viewpoint.

 

[StephanF]

I always wonder about the saturation level of the fat in those diets and the overall nutrition level. One could be eating pork/chicken and loading up on safflower oil veggie stir fries and be LCHF. And with the general recommendations these days...

Exactly my thought. Dr Mercola had a video about a week ago about the content of Omega-6 in meats. It had to do with the digestive track: cows, sheep, bisons, and goats can ‘hydrogenate’ PUFAs and convert them into saturated fats. Chicken and such can’t do it, so it really depends on the chicken feed. The same with eggs.

 

[wtf]

Exactly my thought. Dr Mercola had a video about a week ago about the content of Omega-6 in meats. It had to do with the digestive track: cows, sheep, bisons, and goats can ‘hydrogenate’ PUFAs and convert them into saturated fats. Chicken and such can’t do it, so it really depends on the chicken feed. The same with eggs.

It really would be nice to see chicken/eggs marketed as low linoleic or possibly high oleic instead of all the meaningless hot tags they give them these days, ie. organic, free range etc. Those mean little to me. And even while doing some research on chicken feeds that can be used for the hobbiest that are corn and soy free, after analysis of the fat content, it appears that those oils are simply replaced with an equally PUFA rich fat, however, i do remember seeing a feed that was coconut based.