 Keto lunch: Egg-and-cheese stuffed avocado What names come to mind when you hear the term "Ketogenic Diet Expert"? For me, that list includes researchers Steve Phinney, PhD, Jeff Volek, PhD, RD, Thomas Seyfried, PhD, Adrienne Scheck, MD, Eugene Fine, MD, Dominic D'agostino, PhD, and Colin Champ, MD. There are many others who've conducted studies on ketogenic diets or use them in practice and understand their benefits -- and limitations -- for metabolic and therapeutic purposes. Although I understand the science, have read much of the work of the people listed above, and have worked with several clients who choose to follow a very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet, at this point I wouldn't consider myself an expert in this area. In fact, I've spent the last year or so clarifying that my own approach to diabetes and weight management is low carb but not necessarily ketogenic. I make this distinction because I believe a very-high-fat ketogenic diet isn't necessary and in some cases can be counterproductive for weight loss and blood glucose control if energy/calorie intake from fat is too high. I find that a diet moderately high in protein and fat with limited carbohydrates (25-70 grams digestible or "net" carbs per day, depending on the person) works best for most. It's also the type of diet I've followed for several years, with great results. "The More Fat You Eat, The More Fat You'll Lose"? Now, a ketogenic diet containing less than 20 grams of net carb daily can produce weight loss provided energy intake is reduced, which often occurs spontaneously with carb restriction. There's no denying that many people experience dramatic weight loss with minimal carb intake, are able to maintain the loss, and feel great eating this way. But some of the statements I've read about keto being a miracle for dropping unwanted pounds are simply untrue, such as:
Very-low-carb ketogenic diets don't work that way. As just one example, a doctor friend of mine has diabetes, is of normal weight, and has been following a very-low-carb ketogenic diet for several years. He recently experimented with increasing the amount of coconut oil in his already high-fat diet. Although his ketone levels increased to well above 3 mm, he put on several pounds over the course of a few months, which he lost by cutting back on the coconut oil. Adding too much butter, cream, olive oil, or any other fat can have the same effect, as can eating excessive quantities of protein or carbohydrates. Also, think about the group following a very strict traditional ketogenic diet: children with epilepsy that have failed medication therapy. This diet is about 90% fat, 2-4% carb, and less than 10% protein, which results in a level of ketonemia that in many cases significantly reduces or even eliminates seizures (The Modified Atkins Diet is very low in carbs but does not restrict protein, is much easier to adhere to long term, and has also shown effectiveness for seizure management). Children don't lose weight on the ketogenic diet when calorie intake is adequate, and for that and other reasons, it's very important that specially trained dietitians (true ketogenic diet experts) work closely with patients and their families to ensure energy and nutrient needs are met, which involves weighing food to the gram on a kitchen scale. In fact, in the book "Ketogenic Diets: Treatments for Epilepsy and Other Disorders" by Dr. Eric Kossoff and other specialists, there's a section devoted to potential weight gain -- or weight loss -- that may occur during ketogenic diet therapy. Therapeutic Applications for Ketogenic Diets While the results of studies investigating the effects of ketogenic diets (KDs) on performance are impressive (1), what I'm most enthusiastic about is their use as an adjunct to traditional therapy in treating serious, often life-threatening diseases where only mediocre results have been achieved with medication or other non-nutritional therapy alone. There's so much established and emerging evidence on their benefits (2), and it's growing monthly as researchers continue publishing their findings. One of the best-known applications for KDs is cancer, particularly certain types of brain cancer like glioblastoma (3,4). Cancer is a very complex disease, and there are conflicting opinions as to its primary cause(s). Dr. Thomas Seyfried and others in the field of cancer research believe that it results when cells develop dysfunctional mitochondria that are unable to generate energy the way normal cells do (oxidative phosphorylation) and must instead use a different pathway reliant on large amounts of glucose (anaerobic glycolysis) in order to meet energy demands. (For anyone interested in reading more about the science behind this -- along with potential risk factors and ways to address them -- please check out the excellent cancer series by nutritionist Amy Berger on her blog, Tuit Nutrition.) Based on several studies, Drs. Seyfried, D'Agostino, Champ, and others believe that increasing serum levels of the ketone beta-hydroxybutyrate via a diet very high in fat and moderate in protein with minimal carbohydrates results in an unfavorable environment for cancer cells. According to these researchers, calories must often be somewhat restricted as well in order to achieve a therapeutic level of ketonemia while simultaneously keeping blood glucose levels low enough to reduce cancer cell growth and inflammation. For a personal account of what it's like living with brain cancer and using a KD in combination with traditional therapy, I highly encourage you to read the blogs of two insightful and inspirational people I follow online: Alix Hayden in Canada and Andrew Scarborough in the UK. These two are truly experts on what day-to-day management of cancer (and in Andrew's case, epilepsy as well) entails. There's a growing body of research suggesting that people with with Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury (TBI), ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), Parkinson's, and other neurological diseases may also benefit from ketogenic diets (5-9). While much of the evidence comes from studies on mice and other animals, the results of human research are also promising (10-12), including the case of a 64-year-old woman who experienced significant regression of an advanced glioblastoma tumor (nearly unheard of in a woman her age) when a calorie-restricted, ketogenic diet was combined with standard therapy (13). Unfortunately, as Dr. Seyfried discusses in his excellent presentation Cancer: A Metabolic Disease with Metabolic Solutions, the tumor came back once she went off the diet and began taking the drug Avastin. Below is another lecture from radiation oncologist Colin Champ discussing the role ketogenic diets, calorie restriction, and fasting can play in cancer treatment. The presentation isn't overly technical, and Dr. Champ covers a lot here in his typical engaging style. And if you're interested in learning about the latest research on the wide-reaching effects of ketogenic diets for neurological disorders and certain cancers, check out Dr. Dominic D'Agostino's talk Metabolic Therapies: Therapeutic Implications and Practical Application. Notice that the KD is used in combination with medication or hyperbaric oxygen therapy in order to provide maximum benefit. I realize that there is still much that is unknown in the field of ketogenic diets, and I don't want to make premature statements about the extent of their ability to prevent or treat disease . For instance, the KD may not be appropriate or effective for all types of cancer, including some brain cancers (14). Anecdotally, some people have experienced great benefit from being in sustained ketosis while others haven't. But what I've read and heard about their potential uses is certainly encouraging. Looking Ahead After I finished my dietetic internship and became a dietitian, I worked at a large Veterans Health Administration hospital for five and a half years. The first two were spent in the Spinal Cord Injury unit and the remainder in outpatient care. During that time I saw hundreds of patients with cancer, TBI,'s ALS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other debilitating conditions. The main goals for nutrition therapy were to prevent weight/lean mass loss and ensure nutritional adequacy by making appropriate dietary recommendations -- if they were even capable of eating (some required tube feeding). It was heartbreaking to see the devastating effects of disease and treatment on patients and their families, knowing there was little I could do beyond trying to prevent loss of muscle mass and micronutrient deficiencies by prescribing high-protein foods and supplements. The possibility that ketogenic diets may one day become part of standard therapy for various types of serious illness -- reducing the current reliance on toxic therapies, improving outcomes, and elevating people's quality of life -- makes me eager to continue learning as much as possible about them so I can provide "expert" nutritional guidance that may truly make a difference. References 1. Phinney SD. Ketogenic diets and physical performance. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2004;1:2 2.Paoli A, et al. Beyond weight loss: a review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets. Eur J Clin Nutr 2013 Aug;67(8):789-96 3. Seyfried TN, et al. Metabolic therapy: a new paradigm for managing malignant brain cancer. Cancer Lett. 2015 Jan 28;356(2 Pt A):289-300 4. Varshneya K, et al. The Efficacy of Ketogenic Diet and Associated Hypoglycemia as an Adjuvant Therapy for High-Grade Gliomas: A Review of the Literature. Muacevic A, Adler JR, eds. Cureus. 2015;7(2):e251 5. Paoli A, et al. Ketogenic Diet in Neuromuscular and Neurodegenerative Diseases. BioMed Rese Int. 2014;2014:474296 6. Greco T, et al. Ketogenic diet decreases oxidative stress and improves mitochondrial respiratory complex activity. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. October 2015 (epub ahead of print) DOI: 10.1177/0271678X15610584 7. Seyfried, TN. Ketone strong: emerging evidence for a therapeutic role of ketone bodies in neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. J Lipid Res. 2014 Sep;55(9):1815-7 8. Stafstrom CE, Rho JM. The Ketogenic Diet as a Treatment Paradigm for Diverse Neurological Disorders. Front Pharmacol. 2012;3:59 9. Hartman AL. Neuroprotection in Metabolism-Based Therapy. Epilepsy Res. 2012;100(3):286-294 10. Gasior M, Rogawski MA, Hartman AL. Neuroprotective and disease-modifying effects of the ketogenic diet. Behav pharmacol. 2006;17(5-6):431-439 11. Allen BG, et al. Ketogenic diets as an adjuvant cancer therapy: History and potential mechanism. Redox Biology. 2014;2:963-970 12. Champ CE, et al. Targeting metabolism with a ketogenic diet during the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme. J Neuroncol. 2014 Mar;117(1):125-3 13. Zuccoli G, et al. Metabolic management of glioblastoma multiforme using standard therapy together with a restricted ketogenic diet: Case Report. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2010;7:33 14. Dang MT, et al. The Ketogenic Diet Does Not Affect Growth of Hedgehog Pathway Medulloblastoma in Mice. Xie J, ed. PLoS ONE. 2015;10(7) e0133633
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 Disclosure: I was contacted by the author, who sent me a review copy of this book free of charge.
The ability to see is something we usually take for granted until we start having problems. Loss of vision due to cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration becomes more common as we age, but eye problems can develop throughout the life cycle. I've had several eye disorders: bilateral strabismus ("lazy eye") requiring surgery when I was seven, medium myopia (nearsightedness) since around that age, and most recently presbyopia ("old eyes" -- farsightedness after the age of 40). I also have a strong family history of glaucoma, so doing whatever i can to preserve the sight I have is extremely important to me. Dr. Bruce Fife is a naturopath, certified nutritionist, and director of the Coconut Research Center. He's a prolific author, having written 20 books based on his extensive review of the literature on the benefits of coconut oil and its medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). In his latest book, Stop Vision Loss Now!, he provides evidence that a well-balanced, nutrient-rich, very-low-carbohydrate diet supplemented with coconut oil may help to prevent and even reverse some of the most common eye disorders associated with aging. The major concept of the book is that the eyes are an extension of the brain, so whatever keeps the brain healthy and well nourished will do the same for the eyes. There's a growing body of research demonstrating that maintaining blood glucose and insulin levels as close to normal as possible can help preserve brain function and reduce the risk for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. According to Dr. Fife, many researchers now believe that although increased intraocular pressure is involved in glaucoma, its primary cause is that nerve cells within the brain become damaged, similar to what happens in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. He explains that coconut oil increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a gene that stimulates the growth, maintenance, and repair of these nerve cells.. Dr. Fife suggests that the increase in ketone levels that occurs in response to MCT can protect eye health and improve or potentially reverse degenerative eye disorders as a result of increased BDNF. In addition to age-related conditions like glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy, coconut oil can also be used for dry eyes, eye infections, and other non-vision-limiting conditions.* In addition to generous amounts of healthy fats and moderate amounts of protein, Dr. Fife recommends including a wide variety of nonstarchy vegetables and berries to reduce oxidative stress that can lead to eye disease. He advises selecting from three different levels of carbohydrate intake based on blood glucose levels and provides a sample menu for a typical day, along with guidance on meal planning and dining out. Lists of protective low-carbohydrate foods and a comprehensive net carb counter are included. I agree with his suggestion to add coconut oil slowly, one tablespoon per day to start, in order to prevent GI symptoms and determine personal tolerance. I learned several things I didn't know as a result of reading this book, including:
I found Stop Vision Loss Now! very well-researched, comprehensive, and interesting. Dr. Fife has a gift for making advanced nutrition concepts and physiological processes easy for the average reader with an interest in health to understand. It was truly a pleasure read for me. There are many personal accounts throughout the book, including the author's story of how he reversed his own early-stage glaucoma. Although there isn't a lot of published research on the benefits of coconut oil for eye disorders, he makes a great case for including it as part of a whole-foods-based, low-carbohydrate diet in Stop Vision Loss Now! *Regardless of whether these changes in diet and lifestyle improve your vision, if you have an eye disorder, you should continue to see your ophthalmologist at least once a year for monitoring. |
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Franziska Spritzler, RD, CDE Categories
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