Hi. I’m fairly new to keto. My dad (a medical doctor) and his wife (a dietitian) send me links to articles like this one whenever they come across them.
I’m still learning about keto and I don’t have a file with scientific studies that I can share with them. I’m also not a doctor or a scientist and I don’t really know how to analyze the information presented to be able to tell if it’s credible.
Would someone here be willing to take a look at their source and help me understand why being keto does not actually make me at greater risk of premature death?
There have been a number of threads on this board in the last week or 2 with varying amounts of critique of the articles that have been out lately - of which this is one.
At the top of the thread attached here is a good critique of why the study is meaningless.
Other than that, it depends on how detailed you want to get.
It is hard to argue with a doctor without being able to refer to specific hormonal or biological processes, which would take a significant amount of reading and studying.
Listen to the 2ketodudes podcasts, and the Obesity Code, and any articles by Dr Fung and you’ll have a good starting point.
The study you reference is bad science, poorly done. Zoe Harcombe’s response explains why in good detail.
Dr. Harcombie’s critique is about a different study, but it is very well laid out and I will share it with my folks. Thank you.
I honestly don’t want to argue with them. I’d be thrilled to have an ongoing informed conversation, and I would love to learn from them. It just feels like they’re not very open to my input, and I think that’s because they don’t believe that I know enough about it to have an informed perspective, which isn’t completely untrue. They both got their degress decades ago, though, and I kind of wonder the same thing about them when it comes to the specifics about very low carb and ketogenic diets.
Professor Banach said: “Low carbohydrate diets might be useful in the short term to lose weight, lower blood pressure, and improve blood glucose control, but our study suggests that in the long-term they are linked with an increased risk of death from any cause, and deaths due to cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and cancer.”
The Professor says himself that low carb diets can help you lose weight, lower blood pressure and improve blood glucose – you tell me if those three things are good for your health and a long life, you don’t need an MD or PhD, just common sense.
It is difficult. I am fortunate in that my husband supports this way of eating, although doesn’t completely adhere to it himself, but he doesn’t have weight or health issues. My parents basically agree with eating whole, unprocessed foods and take a “well if it works for you then ok” approach.
For other people I point them in the direction of the Magic Pill documentary and also ask the question “what other diet can cure diabetes without medication?”
I hope they start to become more supportive for you.
