‘K' for killer

The keto weight-loss diet that is having a surge of popularity may actually be shortening people’s lives.

Question:

People I know have lost a lot of weight on the keto diet and claim to feel amazing. I worry about the long-term health effects of such a drastic diet, so haven’t tried it. What’s your opinion? I take your point that we’d be better off if we didn’t think thinner was better.

Answer:

You’re right to worry. The keto – or ketogenic – diet has been dominating water-cooler talk in workplaces this year, yet studies of such lowcarbohydrate diets sound alarm bells. Attendees at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in August, for instance, heard that very low-carb diets may, in fact, be killing us.

Despite the recent hype, people have been eating ketogenic diets for nearly 100 years, although not to lose weight. Rather, they’ve been successfully using it to treat drug-resistant epilepsy, especially in children.

The basis of the keto diet for weight loss is that when our body doesn’t get enough carbohydrates, it starts burning fat for fuel. This process is called ketosis and production of ketones is the end result. A keto diet deliberately induces ketosis.