According to new research that was recently presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session and World Congress of Cardiology a low-carb, high-fat “keto” diet doubles the risk of cardiovascular events such as blocked arteries, heart attack, and stroke.
The study was based on information collected by the UK Biobank, a large-scale database with health information from more than 500,000 people living in the UK. Now before everyone gets up in arms about the limits of epidemiological research, know that in this study researchers examined individuals with data on serum lipids, metabolomic markers, and dietary patterns. In addition, all participants recorded their diet in a 24-hour food survey and had their blood drawn to measure their cholesterol levels. So this was far from a study based on just a food questionnaire. This study had mountains of real data that looked at actual blood test results.
The researchers followed the participants for an average of 11.8 years. During the follow-up period, 9.8 percent of participants on an keto diet versus 4.3 percent of the control group experienced a cardiovascular event, including blockage in arteries, a heart attack, or stroke. Those on keto diets had significantly higher LDL cholesterol levels and apolipoprotein B—a protein that coats LDL cholesterol proteins and can predict heart disease better than elevated levels of LDL cholesterol can.
Interestingly, the findings point to the well known keto culprit of saturated fat and animal consumption. So, the jury is still out on the idea of plant-based high fat diets causing the same issues that high fat animal based keto causes. Either way, staying away from saturated fat and animal protein, is definitely a winning strategy to prevent cardiovascular disease and its many complications.
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