Alert! A ketogenic diet may cause temporary flu-like symptoms!

April 10, 2020 / / -- According to a new study, the first few weeks of a ketogenic diet may have a large number of flu-like symptoms, including nausea, fatigue and dizziness.
study was published recently in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.
researchers extracted data from the experiences of 101 people who started using ketogenic dieting and described their symptoms on 43 forums.
Is the same as the so-called ketogenic flu -- flu symptoms that begin in people on this high-fat, medium-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, and the first seven days of a new ketogenic diet gradually worsen, but gradually decrease over time and eventually disappear after about four weeks.
Photo Source: Dr Emmanuelle Bostock, co-author of the study and a researcher at the Menzies Institute of Medicine at the University of Tasmania, Australia, said: "We are trying to describe the nature of ketogenic influenza because the incidence reported in the media is inconsistent with the incidence in the academic literature.
found that some users of online forums self-reported flu-like symptoms, usually in the first few weeks of their diet.
the 1920s, ketogenic foods first appeared as a drug for epilepsy.
recently, the ketogenic diet has become a health craze because it is thought to be able to lose weight by forcing the body into a state called ketogenicity.
when the body is in this state, cells get energy from a compound called ketogenic acids, which are extracted from fatty acids.
still unsure why it causes weight loss, and studies have generally failed to prove that a ketogenic diet is more effective than other weight-loss strategies.
but the ketogenic diet seems to have an unexpected difference from other diets: it is prone to flu-like symptoms, at least in the first few weeks of the diet.
, a spokesman for the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a nutritionist, said: "I do see some clients getting ketogenic influenza.
" Hultin was not involved in the study.
"some people have almost no symptoms, some people have these symptoms, some people have more severe symptoms."
to quantify the phenomenon, Bostock and her colleagues found consistent complaints from 43 online forums.
researchers found that in the first few weeks of the ketogenic diet, people reported sudden headaches, stomach pain, nausea and other flu-like symptoms.
researchers say it's not clear why a ketogenic diet has this effect, but they suspect it may be related to changes in bacteria and other microbes in the gut when people start eating a ketogenic diet.
, for example, the ketogenic diet excludes many foods that support gut bacteria, such as starchy vegetables and whole grains.
many studies have found links between the brain and intestines, changes in gut bacteria can lead to some symptoms of ketogenic influenza.
: More importantly, many people start eating ketogenic foods in order to reduce their carbohydrate intake, which requires significant changes in the foods they eat.
carbohydrate intake can cause symptoms similar to caffeine withdrawal in the body.
, however, an important limitation of the new study is that the data come entirely from online conversations, and there is no evidence that people who describe symptoms are on a ketogenic diet, let alone experience ketogenicity.
"more clinical research is needed because it's just a review of online forums," Hultin said.
Bostock hopes the preliminary study will lay the groundwork for exploring the side effects of a ketogenic diet in well-designed clinical trials in the future.
() Reference: Keto may cause temporary flu-like symptoms. Here's what to expect. The Keto Flu: Symptoms and How to Get Rid of It 3 Emmanuelle C. S. Bostock et al. Consumer Reports of "Keto Flu" Associated With the Ketogenic Diet. Front. Nutr., 13 March 2020 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2020.00020/4)Effect of Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on 12-Month-WeightEd Loss in Overweight Adults and The Association Withotype Pattern or Insulin Secretion The DIET Random Clinical Trial 5 What is keto and how can I make it?