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Review
. 2021 Jul 16:8:702802.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.702802. eCollection 2021.

Ketogenic Diets and Chronic Disease: Weighing the Benefits Against the Risks

Lee Crosby  1 , Brenda Davis  2 , Shivam Joshi  3   4 , Meghan Jardine  1 , Jennifer Paul  1   5   6 , Maggie Neola  1 , Neal D Barnard  1   7
Affiliations
Review

Ketogenic Diets and Chronic Disease: Weighing the Benefits Against the Risks

Lee Crosby et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets have been long been used to reduce seizure frequency and more recently have been promoted for a variety of health conditions, including obesity, diabetes, and liver disease. Ketogenic diets may provide short-term improvement and aid in symptom management for some chronic diseases. Such diets affect diet quality, typically increasing intake of foods linked to chronic disease risk and decreasing intake of foods found to be protective in epidemiological studies. This review examines the effects of ketogenic diets on common chronic diseases, as well as their impact on diet quality and possible risks associated with their use. Given often-temporary improvements, unfavorable effects on dietary intake, and inadequate data demonstrating long-term safety, for most individuals, the risks of ketogenic diets may outweigh the benefits.

Keywords: disease prevention; ketogenic diet; low-carbohydrate diet; obesity; very-low-carbohydrate diet.

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Conflict of interest statement

LC is an employee of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC, a non-profit organization providing educational, research, and medical services related to nutrition. LC also declares that a trust for her benefit previously held stock in 3M, Abbot Labs, AbbVie, Johnson and Johnson, Mondelez, Nestle, and Walgreens; she is the author of a food and nutrition blog, Veggie Quest; and she is former publications editor and current chair for the Women's Health Dietetic Practice Group within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. MJ and JP received compensation from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine while working on this manuscript. MN is an employee of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. NDB is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine. He serves without compensation as president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Barnard Medical Center in Washington, DC, non-profit organizations providing educational, research, and medical services related to nutrition. He writes books and articles and gives lectures related to nutrition and health and has received royalties and honoraria from these sources. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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