Patience is not the virtue of our times. For this reason, the most fashionable diet in terms of time-weight loss ratio is the ketogenic. For those who don’t know what it is, we are talking about an increasingly widespread diet that through the drastic reduction in carbohydratesforces the body to use fat as its main source of energy.
The effects
The effects of this type of diet are currently conflicting. It’s true that you lose weight more quickly than with other nutritional programs, but according to a brand new study, the ketogenic diet could be harmful and induce changes in the body similar to those typical of aging.. The research was coordinated by the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio (USA) and published in the journal Science Advances. “It has been shown to be effective in the treatment of refractory epilepsy and may also have beneficial effects against cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.”, the researchers write. However, they were observed also negative effectsas: “increase the risk of cardiac fibrosis and kidney damage”.
The new study
The new study so far conducted on laboratory mice, found a new effect: a ketogenic diet that is particularly focused on fat intake produces an increase in senescent cells, cells that generally accumulate with advancing age and which can reduce tissue functionality. This is caused by the increase in a protein (p53). However, the accumulation of senescent cells is reversible: it is enough to suspend the diet for three weeks for the cells to return to their original state. Research “reinforces the fact that the effects of the ketogenic diet are complex, with potential benefits and side effects likely due to multiple factors,” warn the researchers, who propose the use of this dietary model “in the general context of personalized medicine, where variables for each patient are taken into account to determine who will and will not benefit from this dietary intervention.”
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