Eating well-nourished foods and exercising regularly are challenges for many people. These challenges can lead to certain health problems, most common one being, obesity. Obesity is a worldwide problem that influences millions of lives each day. It can be defined as “an abnormal accumulation of body fat, usually 20% or more over an individual's ideal body weight. Obesity is associated with increased risk of illness, disability, and death.” (The Free Dictionary, n.d.). These days, individuals who have endured from obesity and individuals who need to prevent it have a huge assortment of diets and work out plans to do in order to avoid being obese. Many individuals begin to work on a new diet plan, without consulting their doctors and nutritionist. They begin diets that will influence and affect their metabolism. One of the foremost well-known weight-lost diet targeted at the body’s metabolism is “the very low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet.”
What is a ketogenic diet and how it works
To define, a ketogenic diet is a well-known diet for being a low-carbohydrate diet, where in the liver the body produces ketones which are used as energy. Aside from it being called the ketogenic diet, it has many other names such as; low carb diet, low carb high fat (LCHF), and keto diet. (Ketodash, 2017). Eating foods containing high carbs, has the body making glucose and insulin. In this case, glucose is the least demanding and easiest molecule for the body to change and use as energy. Insulin is created to process the glucose within the circulatory system by transporting it around the body (Villines, 2017). Since, glucose is being used as a primary energy, the fats are not needed and are stored away. Typically, the body will use glucose as the main form of energy on a high carbs diet. When individuals start the ketogenic diet, they are lowering the intake of carbohydrates and their body is induced into a state known as ketosis.
Ketosis is a process which prepares the body to assist individuals when nourishment levels are low. Amid this state, the generation of ketones takes put; which are created from the breakdown of fats within the liver. A properly maintained ketogenic diet’s main goal is to force the body into a metabolic state. Human bodies are fantastically versatile to what a person chooses to put into them; once you over-burden your alternatives with fats and take absence from carbohydrates, it will start to burn down ketones as the essential energy source. To proceed, fatty acids create the energy required within the low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet by beta-oxidation, as their triglycerides are broken down. The beta-oxidation is a catabolic process which breaks fats into Acetyl-CoA that enter the Krebs Cycle. Fatty acids are transported to the liver “as the liver breaks down the fat to release its energy to power gluconeogenesis, the conversion of protein to sugar, it produces ketones as a byproduct.” (Eades, 2007). Ketones are water soluble fats, used as sources for vital tissues including brain and heart. Ketones don’t eliminate the sugars the body needs, but they do a good job of substituting the glucose while the body obtains it (Eades, 2007). By utilizing fats and proteins and energy source there’s a loss of fat and muscle the also reflects on the weight loss.
Ketogenic diet works because the human body needs glucose to gain energy in form of ATP, metabolism will look for glucose in another way. Ketosis doesn’t start by starving your body, but it begins with eliminating carbohydrates from your body. A strict ketogenic diet, involves an ultra-low-carb consumption of no more than 20g (Ketodash, 2017). Optimal Ketone levels offer many health, weight loss (metabolism), physical and mental performance benefits. However, there are certain risks that can cause serious damage to the body and overshadow the benefits.
Transitioning to a Ketogenic diet
First few weeks of transitioning to a ketogenic diet can be challenging for some people, whereas, some adapt it to quite more easily. The body is switching from relying on glucose from this main source of energy to using ketones for fuel; this adaptation process is known as keto-adaption (Dolson, 2018). Keto-adaption causes the human brain to have a ‘brain-fog’ which disappears after a while, once the body adapts to the new diet. Keto-adaption takes about 2-3 weeks for the body to get used to the new way of metabolism but side effects happen sooner. (Holland, 2015). Also, because of the change in metabolism, the LCKD has risks and side effects including; excessive thirst, frequent urination, hunger, confusion, fatigue, sweating and chills, diarrhea, skin rash, muscle cramps, headaches, constipation, light-headedness and anxiety and in some cases tachycardia, kidney stones, hypoglycemia and electrolyte deficiencies (Smith, Y., 2015). However, maintaining steady energy levels is more challenging on a standard diet as it varies according to fluctuations in blood sugar, which is dependent upon the insulin response to carbohydrate intake. To explain further, eating a lower amount of carbohydrates on this diet does not prevent the abnormal ranges of sugar levels. This is because, once in ketosis, the body can draw energy from its own fat stores and the liver is able to create as much glucose as the body needs. As a result, by cutting out carbs, the body finds it easier to regulate sugar levels and energy.
Benefits of a Ketogenic diet:
There are many benefits that come with being on a ketogenic diet, for instance, weight loss, due to the reason that body uses body fat as an energy source. Weight loss is also caused because the insulin (fat storing hormone) levels drop significantly turning the body into a fat burning machine. Also leads to controlled blood sugar, due to the types of food eaten in the diet. Studies have shown ketogenic diets have huge benefits for individuals who are pre-diabetic or have Type II diabetes. Diet is well known for causing increased mental focus, less fatty acids impact the brain function in a positive way. Another benefit is it helps to make the body feel more energized and use a more reliable energy source. Keto plays a major role in removing/getting rid of acne and giving individuals better skin. Other benefits include better appetite control, epilepsy, cholesterol and blood pressure, and insulin resistance (Ketodash, 2017). Overall, there are many benefits that are experiences when individual switches to a ketogenic diet
Risks of a Ketogenic diet
Although there are many benefits linked to ketogenic diet, there are risks that come with it as well. Keeping a ketogenic diet can cause an individual to be diagnosed with a medical disorder called, ketoacidosis. Ketoacidosis is a metabolic state related with high concentration of ketone bodies, shaped by the breakdown of fatty acids and the deamination of amino acids.
In this condition, the body will fall flat to enough direct ketone generation causing such a serious accumulation of keto acids that the pH of the blood is considerably diminished, in extraordinary cases, it can be fatal (Ketodash, 2017). There are common side effects of ketogenic diet which include; cramps, constipation, heart palpitations, reduced physical performance, and financial issues. Fundamentally, when individuals eat foods high in carbohydrates and fats, the body produces glucose. Carbohydrates are the easiest thing for the body to process, and so it will utilize them to begin with- resulting in the excess fats to be stored quickly. Too much consumption of carbohydrates can cause weight and health problems which are associated with high fat, high carbohydrate diets; bradycardia, failure of heart, stroke, and type I/II diabetes. These side effects are very dangerous and can affect the health of a person if the diet is initiated without medical supervision (Seegert, 2016). A person choosing to switch to a ketogenic diet, should take into consideration that this diet generates changes in the metabolism, so an individual must be aware that proper nutrition of nutrients and proteins (involved in energy production) is needed for this type of metabolism. Failure to deliberate these consideration, can be harmful to the health of an individual. Medical supervision is necessary in order for an individual to achieve their goals of ideal weight. Once an individual is satisfied with their weight loss, they should not abruptly stop the diet and return to normal eating habits. This causes the body’s metabolism to not understand the transition in the diet and can go into survival mode, causing weight gain.
Costs to the Medical System
Although there are many potential side effects and risks that associate with the ketogenic diet, studies have shown that the ketogenic diet results in cost savings to health care. In a recent research study Dr. Sharon Whiting mentions “In our article just published in Epilepsy Research, we found there were decreased emergency room visits and inpatient visits by people on the diet. This translated to decreased health costs.” (Kossoff, 2017). This comes to show that ketogenic diets could possibly decrease health costs on medical systems as less patients are being taking into the hospitals to be treated. The group within the research report “studied 166 people who started the ketogenic diet between 2000 and 2010 at 3 pediatric centres in Ontario, Canada. We looked at the number of ED visits and hospital admissions in this group before and after starting the diet and the cost of health care in these 2 settings.” (Kossoff, 2017). In their study, they found that 841 visited the emergency room before they started the ketogenic diet. However, after two years after starting the diet the number dropped to 490 visits. “This translates to health care savings of $630 per patient, per year.” (Kossoff, 2017). Overtime, there is a reduction in hospital visits which result in significant cost savings.
Opinion
I think it is important to know how the body’s cells will react to the introduction of ketones or the drastic removal of carbohydrates. It is important because the individual taking part in the diet should be aware of the side effects that they may face for the first month. Since the body’s metabolism is being changed it will take the body some time to get used to the transition. Therefore, an individual taking part in the ketogenic should be aware of possible side effects related to the changing of the body’s metabolism. Further research should be done by an individual and diet concept should be fully understood before going on with the diet. Also, looking past the research and statistics of the medical system research study, I believe that this diet would cost the medical system more money. This diet has many potential risks that could seriously harm an individual if they have no background knowledge and they do not perform it right. Individuals who start this diet without consulting a doctor or have no supervision are more likely to cause severe injuries or disorders to their body. With this being said, it should cost the health care system more money, since there are a lot of people who would perform this diet without being familiar to it. The risks associated with it would costs lots of money if individuals started this diet wrongfully.
Conclusion
In conclusion, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet is a quick and effective diet to lose weight, since it diminishes the daily consumption of carbohydrates. In any case, this is not the only consideration a person must analyze when they want to perform this diet. They must consider the side effects in this sort of diet, which may be exceptionally destructive to the person’s body and wellbeing. LCKD affects the metabolism due to the change of the body’s energy source. The metabolism alters its first source of energy from glucose to protein and fatty acids, making the body lose weight not only in fats but in muscular mass. For this reason, it is recommended that an individual counsel their doctor prior to the choice of beginning the diet and have consistent supervision during it. An individual should not start the diet before having the knowledge of all the side effects which can cause harm to the body instead of taking care and securing the body.