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The ketogenic diet consists of few staple foods and more high-quality fats.
This is an unconventional way of eating that faces criticism every day.
People who have been baptized by traditional nutritional knowledge, when they hear “high fat”, they are like encountering a flood of beasts.
Because fat has been carrying a lot of black pot, high blood pressure, high blood lipids, and heart disease are all related to fat.
Naturally, the ketogenic diet also comes with a lot of unwarranted hats: Liver damage, kidney damage, heart damage…even a lot of vegan-backed research comes out.” cheer up”.
Today, I’m here to tell you a piece of good news, the latest research..
New study: Ketogenic diet reduces cardiovascular risk
Many people worry about fat clogging your blood vessels, but recent research shows that the opposite is true.
Studies have found that a ketogenic diet can significantly reduce heart disease risk, along with weight loss and improvements in blood sugar, blood pressure, and other metabolic markers.
This is a recent study by Dr. Tro Kalayjian’s research team, published in the journal Metabolism.
The research team contracted employees at high risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease for a 6-month, weight loss and metabolic health program that reduced carbohydrates.
Participants were instructed to follow a ketogenic diet, wear a continuous glucose monitor, and use a ketone meter.
Also, they are supported by professional medical staff and fitness trainers.
Study results showed that in 10 patients who were followed for 6 months, patients had an average relative cardiovascular risk reduction of 44% and average weight loss 38 lbs (17kg).
Although this is a small study, its findings are consistent with those published by Virta Health in 2018.
In the Virta Health study, participants on a ketogenic diet and monitored through an app calculated a 12% reduction in cardiovascular risk.
These findings contradict many outdated warnings in mainstream medicine that the ketogenic diet is dangerous and can lead to heart attacksincrease and may lead to premature death.
Outdated warnings run counter to the latest research, denying the ketogenic diet’s potentially beneficial intervention for millions of people.
Instead, we need to recognize the value of the right low-carb diet for improving metabolic health, reversing type 2 diabetes, and improving heart risk scores.
Previous claims that ketosis increases cardiovascular risk are not true ketogenic diet studies, and they have many problems with the study design:
The diet they studied was not actually a ketogenic diet, and they defined low carb as less than 40% carbohydrate calories.
That is, a 2,000-calorie diet contains 200g of carbohydrates per day, more carbs than most ketogenics eat in a week .
The study was observational and relied on unreliable food frequency questionnaires, and other forms of data collection.
They also have other weaknesses in nutritional epidemiology, including healthy bias, where healthy people are deliberately selected, or subjects are highly health-conscious.
Dr. Tro’s study did not measure serious outcomes, namely heart attack or death, because this measure requires data from thousands of patients over a decade or more.
The research team used the Cardiovascular Disease Risk Score as a proxy outcome, which is often used by doctors to decide whether patients should take cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Cardiovascular disease guidelines state that anyone with a 10-year calculated risk greater than 7.5% should consider starting a statin.
In Dr. Tro’s study, participants had an average baseline risk of 9.2%, and according to guidelines, it was time to take a statin. (Statins are also a pit, we have written a lot…)
But after 6 months, their average risk was down to 5.1%, and they were no longer taking statins, which also reduced health care spending.
As previously mentioned, these 10 patients lost an average of 17kg, lowering blood sugar, blood pressure and prescription drugs, $45,000 in annual cost savings for just 10 .
In this way, the ketogenic diet can save money and become healthier, which is a win-win for patients and reduces the medical financial burden of the country.
So, the next time you hear that the ketogenic diet is bad for your heart, you can choose to close your ears and ignore it, provided of course you know what real ketogenic is diet.
How the ketogenic diet protects the heart
A low-carb, high-fat diet (ketogenic) can improve your heart health in many ways.
→Low carb lower triglycerides
The Virta Health study mentioned earlier, released their findings that in addition to reversing type 2 diabetes, the ketogenic diet also has outstanding performance in cardiovascular disease.
Investigators systematically tracked and reviewed 26 parameters related to cardiovascular disease in clinical trials, and after 1 year, 22 parameters were significantly improved strong>.
These metrics include:
Lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure;
11.9% reduction in 10-year ASCVD (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease) risk score;
Substantially reduce the prescription of high blood pressure medications;
39% reduction in inflammation (measured by C-reactive protein);
Myocardium utilizes fatty acids, glucose, lactate, ketone bodies and amino acids as energy substrates, but normally, myocardium will preferentially utilize fatty acids.
However, in the early stages of structural heart disease, the heart’s ability to utilize fatty acids decreases, fatty acid oxidation decreases, and glucose begins to use more.
This does not provide enough energy to the heart, resulting in a lack of energy in the heart muscle, which can lead to heart failure.
At this time, the heart of heart failure will reprogram the process of energy metabolism, change its metabolic process, increase the dependence on ketone bodies, and provide enough energy to the heart .
A 2017 study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JAHA) conducted a randomized crossover trial in eight healthy subjects.
The results showed that injecting an appropriate dose of exogenous ketones increased myocardial blood flow by 75%, which means that the risk of heart failure is greatly reduced.
Researchers say ketone bodies are important cardiac fuels and vasodilators and may have therapeutic potential.
In addition, a 2019 study conducted a controlled trial of 16 heart failure patients with injections of exogenous ketones to increase ketone body (3-OHB) levels.
Results suggest that elevated ketone bodies can increase cardiac output in patients with heart failure, reduce systemic and pulmonary vascular resistance, reduce ventricular filling pressure, improve Heart failure-related symptoms.
→Reduce inflammation
People with high levels of inflammation double their risk of heart disease, the source of heart disease.
Many new studies have also found that the main cause of heart disease and atherosclerosis is not cholesterol, but inflammation.
And ketosis has been shown many times to significantly reduce inflammation.
Studies show that the NLRP3 inflammasome, when activated, can trigger inflammation that exacerbates dysfunction, cell death, cardiac remodeling and heart failure in an unhealthy heart. structure.
The major ketone body produced in the ketogenic diet, β-hydroxybutyrate (βOHB), has direct anti-inflammatory effects, and βOHB blocks the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and release.
The low-carb ketogenic diet is a powerful anti-inflammatory diet that, in addition to reducing carbohydrate intake, emphasizes high-quality fats to help reduce inflammation.
Use olive oil, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, and animal fats to reduce or eliminate inflammation-causing omega-6 fatty acids and reduce carbohydrates< /strong>, can reduce inflammation.
→Reduce hyperinsulinemia
Heart disease is associated with obesity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance, especially with insulin.
Long-term high-carbohydrate diets will increase blood sugar and insulin for a long time, leading to an imbalance in glucose metabolism, which in turn triggers oxidative stress, inflammation, and vascular cell damage.
The low-carb ketogenic diet, on the other hand, reduces blood sugar rapidly, relieves hyperinsulinemia, and greatly reduces the risk of heart disease.
→Reduce oxidative stress and enhance mitochondrial function
Mitochondria are the creators of life energy. We breathe, walk, think, and eat, all of which rely on mitochondria to generate energy.
Naturally, our cardiomyocytes also need mitochondria, which depend on healthy mitochondria for continuous energy production.
However, mitochondria are not perfect. While producing energy, they also produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), causing oxidative stress in cells.
When energy production is accelerated, reactive oxygen species also increase and lead to more oxidative stress.
ROS readily interact with cellular molecules such as fats, proteins and DNA, changing the chemical composition of these molecules and thus their function.
As a result, more oxidative stress, which can lead to mitochondrial damage, and damaged mitochondria are less efficient at producing energy.
This is often referred to as mitochondrial dysfunction and is a cardinal feature of heart failure.
The ketogenic diet greatly reduces the production of free radicals and reduces oxidative stress.
The ketogenic diet also increases levels of ketone bodies, which have important metabolic and signaling roles that can enhance mitochondrial function and enhance endogenous antioxidant defenses
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Key Thin Dragon Says
There has been a lot of research supporting the positive effects of low-carb ketosis on the heart, but many people still disagree.
Recently, another study on the ketogenic diet and heart health came out, and the results, unsurprisingly, showed that ketosis can reduce cardiovascular risk.
For patients with cardiovascular disease, we know that you are worried about cholesterol. We suggest that you read my previous article on cholesterol and reply to cholesterol on the public account.
The indicators you should pay attention to after low carbon are not cholesterol, but the following indicators that really affect the heart:
1. CAC calcification;
2, HCY homocysteine;
3. Inflammation;
4. insulin;
5. OS oxidative stress level;
6, TG triglyceride level;
A low-carb ketogenic diet can reduce inflammation, improve oxidative stress, lower triglycerides, enhance mitochondrial function, lower blood sugar and insulin, and be very helpful to the heart.