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REVIEW article

Front. Med.
Sec. Family Medicine and Primary Care
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1432717

Ketogenic Diet in Clinical Populations -A Narrative Review

Provisionally accepted
Alon Zemer Alon Zemer 1Shabnam Samaei Shabnam Samaei 2Uri Yoel Uri Yoel 3Aya Biderman Aya Biderman 4Yair Pincu Yair Pincu 2*
  • 1 Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
  • 2 Department of Health and Exercise Science, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, United States
  • 3 Endocrinology Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel
  • 4 Department of Family Medicine, Goldman Medical School, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Clalit Health Services, Beer-Sheva, Israel

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Ketogenic diet (KD) is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate (CHO) diet, designed to induce a metabolic state of ketosis in which the body metabolizes primarily lipids for energy production. Various forms of KD are being promoted as promising treatments for numerous health conditions from chronic headaches to weight-loss and even different forms of cancer and are becoming increasingly more popular. KD appears to be an efficacious approach for weight-loss, and maintenance, improved glycemia, cognitive function and cancer prognosis. However, there is a controversy regarding the safety of KD, and the potential health risks that might be associated with long-term exposure to KD.There is a gap between the acceptance and utilization of KD in individuals with health conditions and the criticism and negative attitudes towards KD by some clinicians. Many individuals choose to follow KD and are encouraged by the positive results they experience. Although the medical establishment does not endorse KD as a first line of treatment, clinicians need to be informed about KD, and offer support and medical supervision for patients who self-select to follow KD. This can ensure that within the boundaries of KD, patients will make good and healthy dietary choices and prevent clinical disengagement in extreme cases. To that end, there is an urgent need for good quality research to address the issues of long-term safety of KD in different clinical populations and for standardization of KD both in research and in the clinic.

    Keywords: Very-Low-Carbohydrate-Diet, Obesity, diabetes, Weight-loss, Cancer, Intractable Pediatric Epilepsy, neurodegenerative disease

    Received: 14 May 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zemer, Samaei, Yoel, Biderman and Pincu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yair Pincu, Department of Health and Exercise Science, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma, Norman, 73019, Oklahoma, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.