Ketogenic Diet

Bite-Sized Medicine

The ketogenic diet has been prescribed medically as a regimen for children with refractory seizures. It has since gained popularity recently as a weight loss strategy. This diet is important to understand because of its effect on overall body physiology in order to best counsel patients, especially as patients may be bringing it up more frequently as a current "fad diet"!

Resources:

1. Nordmann AJ, Nordmann A, Briel M, et al. Effects of low-carbohydrate vs low-fat diets on weight loss and cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arch Intern Med 2006; 166:285.
2. Hall KD, Chen KY, Guo J, et al. Energy expenditure and body composition changes after an isocaloric ketogenic diet in overweight and obese men. Am J Clin Nutr 2016; 104:324.
3. Fung TT, van Dam RM, Hankinson SE, et al. Low-carbohydrate diets and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: two cohort studies. Ann Intern Med 2010; 153:289.
4. Martin‐McGill KJ, Jackson CF, Bresnahan R, Levy RG, Cooper PN. Ketogenic diets for drug‐resistant epilepsy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2018, Issue 11. Art. No.: CD001903. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001903.pub4.
5. McKenzie A, Hallberg S, Creighton BC, Volk BM, Link T, Abner M, et al. A Novel Intervention Including Individualized Nutritional Recommendations Reduces Hemoglobin A1c Level, Medication Use, and Weight in Type 2 Diabetes. JMIR Diabetes. 2017;2(1):e5
6. Hallberg SJ, McKenzie AL, Williams P, et al. Effectiveness and Safety of a Novel Care Model for the Management of Type 2 Diabetes at One Year: An Open Label, Non-Randomized, Controlled Study. Diabetes Ther. 2018. DOI: 10.1007/s13300-018-0373-9
7. Sumithran, Priya, and Joseph Proietto. "Ketogenic diets for weight loss: a review of their principles, safety and efficacy." Obesity Research & Clinical Practice 2.1 (2008): 1-13.