Keto Contributing to Bone Loss in Children?

#1

Has anyone here looked into the possibility that the KD may contribute to bone loss in children?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/28778055/

I’m particularly curious about any ill effects Keto might have on a teenager.

Thanks!

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #2

Interesting. I skimmed the article. It didn’t mention anything about how much calcium they were getting from foods or if any supplements were given. Note: I only skimmed the abstract.

#3

Did they mention how much protein they were eating? I’m fairly certain that they now don’t limit protein nearly as much as they used to & protein is also important for bone health.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #4

Unfortunately, the complete text is behind a paywall so we can only speculate. I wonder what exactly in a well formulated ketogenic diet would lead to reduced bone density. Consuming adequate calcium either from dairy or bone meal sources plus sufficient vitamin D to utilize the calcium is not contrary to a ketogenic diet. So my immediate suspicion is that there is some other agendum here.

Maybe @DeeCS would like to check for conflicts of interest and/or suspicious affiliations.

Simm PJ, Bicknell-Royle J, Lawrie J, Nation J, Draffin K, Stewart KG5, Cameron FJ, Scheffer IE, Mackay MT.

:slightly_smiling_face:

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

If they are discussing the ketogenic diet used to treat epilepsy, this is indeed a real problem. The epileptic diet is so rich in fat that it is deficient in protein. To my mind, it is criminal to restrict a child’s protein intake. I’m not sure why the diet needs to be so high in fat, and I wonder if there isn’t some way of allowing a more normal protein intake and still getting relief from seizures. I’d hate to be a parent confronted with having to choose between watching my child suffer seizures or stunting his or her growth.

(Todd Allen) #6

They go super high fat cutting carbs and protein very low to get very high ketone levels. I expect this is where exogenous ketones will prove valuable, allowing therapeutic high ketone levels for medical conditions such as epilepsy without the need to go damagingly low on protein.

(Todd Allen) #7

Science pirates can also contemplate by reading the full text here:
https://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2017.07.014

We conclude that the ketogenic diet is associated with decreased
bone mass accrual, and support previous findings that bone health
monitoring is important in this high risk group. However, the overall
trend to reduction in bone outcomes across the whole cohort, whilst
intriguing, did not reach statistical significance,

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #8

Thank you @PaulL I had not thought about that possibility. A real Mephistopheles choice.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #9

Thank you! It appears that @PaulL is correct and they are using an epilepsy diet.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #10

Exactly!

(Failed) #11

Working on the authors. Not finding much detail, but they all seem to be working for hospitals with no personal agendas. Will post them to the Authors reference when I can.