Keto works but only short term

The ketogenic diet has been trending for several years, with advocates trumpeting its health benefits, including reduced inflammation and weight loss. But a recent study in mice, carried out at Yale University and published in Nature Metabolism, indicates that the benefits may only be short term, with negative effects setting in after a week.

Ketogenic eating plans provide 99% of calories from fat, with only 1% from carbohydrates, lowering the body’s glucose level and tricking it into burning fat. This process produces ketone bodies, which are used as an alternative source of fuel. When the body burns ketone bodies, tissue-protective gamma delta T-cells expand throughout the body.

Although earlier studies showed that the diet could help lower diabetes risk and inflammation, the Yale study found mice who were fed a keto diet beyond a week consumed more fat than they could burn, and developed diabetes and obesity. "They lose the protective gamma delta T-cells in the fat," explained lead author Vishwa Deep Dixit, in a press release.

"Before such a diet can be prescribed, a large clinical trial in controlled conditions is necessary to understand the mechanism behind metabolic and immunological benefits or any potential harm to individuals who are overweight and prediabetic," Dixit added.

Researcher Emily Goldberg, who discovered that the keto diet expands gamma-delta T cells in mice, said in a press release, "Our findings highlight the interplay between metabolism and the immune system, and how it coordinates maintenance of healthy tissue function."

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