It’s been a while since we’ve had a general discussion on a fib research (with the exception of fish oils may increase/cause a fib.) My husband has paroxysmal a fib, but has gotten to the point that he has an episode almost every day. He’s very fit and has an ideal weight. He’s cut out alcohol and caffeine. We have a low stress lifestyle and he tries to minimize adrenaline bursts (not always in his control,) and dehydration. He does a lot of low stress exercise (walking 2-4 miles/day). He initially went on keto when I did for my type II DM (and immediately lost twice the weight I did) but I’m now 4 years into keto and he strayed after less than a year. Does anyone know if going back on keto would help him? Any advice would be appreciated.
Atrial Fibrillation vs. ketogenic diet
My intuition is that keto will help him feel better. It may or may not affect his AFib. I (and others) have been on keto for long enough to reap its rewards… while still experiencing episodes of AFib.
Others may have seen keto make a big difference.
It surely cannot hurt, though!
Hello Susan. I think the circulating blood ketones would be beneficial to his heart as a preferred fuel. The other benefit of the ketogenic diet can also be an indicator why the diet may be problematic for people with electrical (electrolyte) based heart problems and that is salt. We all know that some ill effects of adaptation to the way of eating are removed by using added salt by some people. The classic being Professor Steve Finney regularly have a bullion cube as a drink. So, be taking the extra salt, especially if magnesium salts are in the mix, will be beneficial against AFib. But doing the keto diet and not being very mindful of electrolytes might make it worse.