Keto and Heart Attacks

(Jessica) #1

I’m looking for reliable evidence that a keto diet is beneficial for someone post-MI. Of course, low fat, low cholesterol, low salt is the conventional recs for someone.

My FIL had a heart attack Friday while in a big city at a show (he from a small town a long way from a big hospital). He was able to get to an ER quickly and they did a heart cath. They found 100% blockage in his left diagonal artery and placed 2 stints. He’s doing well now. He’s done low carb (more Atkins-like) and lost 50lbs but is definitely nowhere close to keto at this point. I know they use a ton of vegetable oil in cooking and he had taken fish oil for years. I just read that there may be evidence that fish oil is artery-clogging but I can’t find the reference.

#2

Keto helps with obesity which is a major contributor. Most other evidence is anecdotal so it’s hard to prove causation between health and diet with so many confounding variables.

(Janelle) #3

My father in law was never obese but several years ago, he lost a lot of weight on Atkins over the course of a year - and promptly had a heart attack and a triple bypass. He went back to SAD (although my MIL was a nurse and she moderates his diet) and blamed Atkins for the heart attack. He then had another attack and more surgery. A bunch of blood thinners and statins later, he turned 81 this month. He had a few stents put in last year. It’s basically thin walls and blockages. Even if he went back to keto, I’m not sure he’d be doing himself any favors. They already limit carbs from bread, desserts and such. Now, she is crazy about keeping him away from fat of any kind.

(Bunny) #4

Not enough fat intake on an Atkins diet (too much sugar and protein = more glucose than ketones being utilized); Vitamin K and D (not enough sunlight on skin) deficiencies! Look at all those sugars, grains and non-resistant starch’s, no wonder the arteries get clogged? This is not keto by today’s standards (too high in carbs) or what we practice here on the forum! Just looking at those phases; make me cringe in horror?

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(Carl Keller) #5

There are studies that prove HFLC improves most cardiovascular disease markers, except LDL and total cholesterol (there’s much debate about the importance of LDL(LDL size) and total vs HDL/trigs ratio):

https://cardiab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12933-018-0698-8
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/science#metabolic

There are several observational studies that suggest LFHC is the healthiest and which the AHA bases the SAD (Stupid American DIet) on but:

To date there is NO conclusive evidence linking saturated fat as an independent risk factor with heart disease. Current research indicates that eating fat is healthier than eating carbs, lowering fat would in essence raise carbohydrates raising heart disease risk.

I could not find any studies or article RE: Keto post heart attack but I did locate an article written by a cardiologist who admits:

the historical prioritization on reducing total fat, saturated fat, and dietary cholesterol is outdated and incomplete.

This cardiologist, Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, participated in the writing of the goals for the American Heart Association’s 2020 Strategic Impact Goals: the mission is no longer just about treating or even preventing disease, but achieving health.

He goes on to say:

Evidence from a broad range of research paradigms demonstrates that the focus should be on healthful food-based diet patterns, including increased intakes of beneficial foods such as fruits, nuts, vegetables, minimally processed whole grains, legumes, polyunsaturated and phenolic-rich vegetable oils, seafood, yogurt; and reduced intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, processed (preserved) meats, and foods rich in refined grains, starches, and sugars

Red meats should be consumed moderately to prevent weight gain and diabetes, and butter used occasionally but not emphasized.12 Two industrial additives – sodium and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils – should also be avoided.

So it looks like some change is coming to the AMA in regards to what the SAD should really be. I don’t particularly like how he makes sodium a villain in this article, although he does specifically calls it “additive sodium” and “industrial sodium”.

How does this apply to your FIL? Current historical prioritizations are “outdated and incomplete” and if you believe this Dr. Mozaffarian, then at the very least your FIL should avoid sugar-sweetened beverages, processed (preserved) meats, and foods rich in refined grains, starches, and sugars. All of those foods don’t belong in the ketogenic diet.

https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2016/05/05/07/45/diet-and-heart-disease-what-every-cardiologist-should-know

(Jessica) #6

Thank you all for your input. I’m not sure anything I say will change anything but I want to know what the science says. My gut says an abundance of vegetable oil cooking plus carbs is what got him here. Even when he claimed to be low carb, he was eating a lot of things I would avoid, like sweet potatoes and battered and fried meats.

(Bob M) #7

What? I’ve eaten quite a bit of red meat while losing weight and reversing what amount of diabetes I’ve had.

Personally, I think “red meat” (meaning mainly beef) is the best meat. It’s low in PUFAs, much lower than chicken or pork.

#8

First, Vitamin K2-MK-4 and K2 MK-7 are vital to heart health. See these links. A good keto diet will includes some of the foods that contain K2, but it can be purchased as a supplement online. K2-MK-7 is the best.

I’ll look for other links with studies on keto and heart health. I’ve seen lots on this subject, it’s just a matter of finding it again.

https://www.lifeextension.com/Magazine/2017/11/As-We-See-It/Page-01

Edited to add a link that will help: https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i1246.full.pdf+html

Edited to add a link: http://pwop.com/live/lchouston.html
It still seems to work for me. This was a low carb conference in Houston. The second link on has video of some doctors/Phd’s and proponents of the keto diet. If it works for you, there is some great info here, and lots of studies listed.

(Carl Keller) #9

I definitely don’t agree with Dr. Mozaffarian on a lot of his article, including this. He also seems to have a salt taboo and it’s probably the result of flawed textbooks and it’s been falsely echoed his entire life. However, I do see some progress in the article: the admission that CICO by itself is not good weight loss advice, putting less blame on fat and cholesterol, reducing sugar, condemning hydrogenated vegetable oils and pursuing good health as opposed to fixing/treating bad health. I can’t expect the AMA to fix itself all at once, but at least there is some progress.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #10

Also, red meat has a more complete amino acid profile than pork or chicken.

(Bob M) #11

I did not know that. Is lamb also “red meat”? Lamb is good too. Hmmm… This considers pork to be red meat:

(Jessica) #12

I just watched the YouTube video. Awesome. I’ve avoided/skimmed past watching the “diabetes and…” ones because my FIL is not diabetic, but the issue was “I’m afraid I’m going to treat my diabetes but die af heart disease” as if they are mutually exclusive. She did a great job of explaining why that’s not the case.

#13

I agree with you on this.