Virtually all weight loss diets focus to varying degrees on either the reduction of calories or the manipulation of intake of one of the three essential macronutrients (protein, fat or carbohydrates) to achieve their weight loss effects. For.
Ketogenic diets are a group of “high-fat, moderate protein” or “high-protein moderate fat” but very low carbohydrate diets. The term ketogenic originally referred to the increased production of ketone bodies resulting from a higher rate of lipolysis (fat breakdown). Ketones are acidic byproducts that are formed by the liver during the breakdown of “fats” into “fatty acids” intermediates.
The first set of ketogenic diets were actually developed in the early 1920s by the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Epilepsy Center and also by Dr. RM Wilder of the Mayo Clinic to treat children with seizures that could be controlled. The diet was designed to mimic the biochemical changes that occurred during periods of fasting, namely ketosis, acidosis, and dehydration. The diet included the consumption of approximately 10–15 g of carbohydrate per day, 1 g of protein per kg body weight of the patient, and the remaining calories derived from fat.
Today, proponents of the ketogenic diet strongly believe that carbohydrates, especially those with a high glycemic index, are the main reason people gain weight. Carbohydrate foods are generally metabolized to produce glucose, a form of simple sugar that is generally considered the preferred energy source for the body because it is a fast-burning form of energy. Although the body can break down muscle glycogen (a mixture of glucose and water) and fat to generate energy, it prefers to get it from high glycemic index carbohydrates from the diet.
Among macronutrients, carbohydrates are known to be the major cause of weight gain. This is even more so because increased intake of high glycemic index carbohydrate foods generally causes fluctuations in blood sugar levels due to rapid absorption into the bloodstream and which often does not lead to overproduction of insulin. . This is where the problem really starts.
Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels and therefore the maintenance of energy in/energy out in the equation that controls body weight. Excess amount of glucose in the bloodstream causes excessive secretion of insulin which leads to storage of excess glucose in the body such as glycogen in liver and muscle cells or fat in fat cells.
One of the objectives of the ketogenic diet is to minimize insulin production by drastically reducing carbohydrate consumption while using fat and protein to meet the body’s energy requirement.
Despite the ability of ketogenic diets to reduce insulin production, their main objective is to ultimately induce a state of ketosis. Ketosis can be thought of as a state or condition in which ketones produced by the liver from the breakdown of “fats” into “fatty acids” exceed the rate at which the tissues can oxidize them. Ketosis is actually a secondary state of the process of lipolysis (the breakdown of fat) and is a common side effect of a low-carbohydrate diet. Ketogenic diets are therefore well suited to try and promote ketosis.
Prolonged starvation can easily induce ketosis, but it can also be induced intentionally using a low-calorie or low-carbohydrate diet through the ingestion of large amounts of fat or protein. Therefore, high-fat and high-protein diets are weight loss diets used to intentionally induce ketosis.
Essentially, ketosis is a very efficient form of energy production that does not involve the production of insulin as the body stores its own fat for energy. As a result, the idea of reducing carbohydrate consumption not only reduces insulin production but also practically forces the body to store its own fat for energy, making the ketogenic diet a very useful tool for rapid weight loss. becomes a powerful method.
Ketogenic diets are designed in such a way that they initially force the body to exhaust its glucose supply and eventually switch to burning its fat stores for energy. Subsequent food intake after inducing a state of ketosis is meant to keep the ketosis process going by appropriately adjusting further carbohydrate consumption to provide the basic amount of calories required by the body.
For example, the Atkins Diet, which is clearly the most popular ketogenic diet, aims to help dieters achieve what the diet calls a person’s Critical Carbohydrate Level for Maintenance (CCLM) – a carbohydrate consumption level where The dieter neither gains nor loses weight.
In 2003, the Johns Hopkins Treatment Center introduced a modified version of the Atkins diet protocol to treat a group of 20 children with epilepsy. After treatment, it was seen that two-thirds of the people experienced a significant reduction in their seizures, while 9 were able to reduce their medication dosage and did not develop kidney stones.
In addition, there are ongoing scientific studies conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding the effectiveness of the classic ketogenic diet and modified versions of the Atkins diet to help people lose weight and treat epilepsy. It is equally interesting to note that the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is conducting studies on the effects of the ketogenic diet and is also developing drugs that would be able to produce a similar effect on weight loss.
Source by Marcus J Michael
