True. This is a well-known and documented result of ANY weight-reduction diet. As well, drinking adequate water to prevent dehydration is not unique to ketogenic diets .. it's simply commonsense, and recommended for all.

False. High-fat, low-carb ketogenic diets have been used therapeutically since the 1920's to treat epilepsy in small children, as young as one year of age. The ketones soothe irritable brain cells which are misfiring and causing seizures ... and work where multiple drug therapies have failed. These kids grow normally, with no impairment in IQ, mental, behavioural or physical development. There are several scientific studies about this topic on our Studies webpage, which you can access from the orange bar at the top of the page.

There is a summary of ketogenic diets at http://www.keto.org/. The list of references can be found on that page. Here is an exerpt:

• It's a common misconception, even among doctors, that the brain can only use glucose for fuel. In actuality, it can burn either glucose or ketones, but under normal circumstances ketones aren't produced by the body. Most of the time, everyone in the world has their brain burning glucose. The only time the body would create and burn ketones in large quantities is when insufficient glucose is available as a fuel source. The way to make glucose (a basic sugar) unavailable, is to simply restrict carbohydrate consumption to 30g/day or less.

Only a small section of the brainstem requires glucose to function; the major part of the human brain - the cerebral cortex - functions very well on ketones, and also requires a steady supply of cholesterol in order to function properly. If carbohydrate is not consumed, the liver can make its own glucose out of protein, either the protein which is eaten, or it will break down muscle tissue in the case of starvation.

If you have lots of time, you might be interested to read Lyle McDonald's papers on Cyclic Ketogenic diets. Part One, Part Two and Part Three. Part One especially deals with the biochemistry of ketosis, lipolysis, gluconeogenesis and the muscle sparing effects of ketogenic diets.

True. Of course, the research also shows that the longterm success rate for ANY weight loss diet is less than 5%. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that once a person returns to the way of eating that made them fat in the first place, it will make them fat again.

For those of us who have resolved serious health issues with a low-carb diet -- obesity, high blood lipids, diabetes, depression, fibromyalgia, addictions, etc, etc -- we have every intention to stay eating this way for the rest of our lives. Why would we want to go back to eating a way that made us sick, and would have shortened our lives if we'd continued?

False. As noted above, a ketogenic diet spares muscle tissue, consuming adequate dietary protein and resistance exercise adds muscle.

Bone density is affected by gravity more so than by the volume of muscle attached to it, which is why weight bearing activities such as walking and rebounding are effective for increasing density, while swimming is not. As well, bone density requires adequate vitamin D in order for calcium to be absorbed. Vitamin D is made in the skin from exposure to sunlight, or supplements are taken by those in reduced sunlight areas.

Ketones have absolutely no effect on bone or calcium. The theories that excess PROTEIN can lead to increased loss of calcium in the urine are not proven. Here's from the Drs. Eades, of Protein Power:

• The theory behind this whole idea is that when you eat protein, it’s broken down into substances that are a little bit acidic. Supposedly this more acidic blood somehow leaches the calcium out of the bones, and it can end up giving us osteoporosis, at a later date.
  
  Now all that sounds logical, but in fact it just doesn’t happen. This has been studied extensively over long periods of time. What researchers have found is when people eat a lot of protein, especially meat protein, they don’t have any increase in urinary calcium. In other words, they’re not leaching the calcium out of their bones and losing it in their urine as the theory would imply.
  
  And when we look at the skeletal remains of hunters and gatherers who ate two to three times the amount of protein considered "safe" for us today, you find their bones are 17 percent more dense than ours-given the comparison is done between individuals of the same height and gender.
  
  Lastly, there have been studies published recently that correlate the elevated insulin syndrome with bone loss. Because elevated insulin makes you get rid of calcium from your bones, it may actually be the insulin problem causing the osteoporosis! It certainly isn’t the protein in the diet.

If you know all, how come I know better?



Cheers,

Doreen