Keto’s Potential Long-Term Risks

While the ketogenic diet was historically used to treat epilepsy, it has recently gained popularity for weight loss and management of conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes. But new research from U of U Health raises important questions about its long-term safety and efficacy for metabolic health.

“We’ve seen short-term studies and those just looking at weight, but not really any studies looking at what happens over the longer term or with other facets of metabolic health,” says Molly Gallop, now assistant professor of anatomy and physiology at Earlham College, who led the study as a postdoctoral fellow in nutrition and integrative physiology at U of U Health.

The ketogenic diet successfully prevented weight gain in mice compared to a high-fat Western diet. Despite this apparent benefit, mice fed the ketogenic diet developed severe metabolic complications, with some changes starting within days.

“One thing that’s very clear is that if you have a really high-fat diet, the lipids have to go somewhere, and they usually end up in the blood and the liver,” says Amandine Chaix, assistant professor of nutrition and integrative physiology at U of U Health and senior author on the study.

The study also revealed problems with blood sugar regulation. After two to three months on the ketogenic diet, mice had low levels of blood sugar and insulin. But when given small amounts of carbohydrates, their blood glucose spiked.

“The problem is that when you then give these mice a little bit of carbs, their carb response is completely skewed,” Chaix says. “Their blood glucose goes really high for really long, and that’s quite dangerous.”

“I would urge anyone to talk to a health care provider if they’re thinking about going on a ketogenic diet,” Gallop says.