Keto diet: lose kilos while strengthening the defense system

• 'Viking Diet' office, the new rival for the Mediterranean diet?

The very low-calorie

diet is a clinically useful nutritional intervention

that identifies any range of

.

Its benefits on body weight loss are clear and rapid,

.

But the latest findings show other consequences that are not trivial and can favor the general condition of patients.

It is an approach that

, not only more than the standard hypocaloric diet, but also than bariatric surgery.

It must be remembered that obesity is characterized by chronic low-grade inflammation and that excess visceral fat is a source of cytokines, so obese people are subject to greater oxidative stress.

The

that occurs with this treatment

, which means a possible solution to combat comorbidities associated with obesity.

The group led by Felipe Casanueva and Ana Belén Crujeiras has been working with this strategy for years at the Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago, achieving

.

It is a decrease that occurs at the expense of body fat, but maintaining muscle mass.

Now, a study coordinated by CiberOBN and published in the journal

shows that nutritional ketosis, together with diet-induced weight loss,

.

"The results highlight its possible usefulness in combating obesity

, for example Covid-19, as well as in promoting healthy aging," highlights Ana Belén Crujeiras, principal investigator.

This nutritional intervention

, so the body adapts to use fat as an energy source and synthesize ketone bodies, which have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

Likewise,

.

During the first 60-90 days

preparations are used to support the body's functions, along with vitamin and mineral supplements.

The treatment lasts for six months.

First to study its effect on biomarkers

The study published in

is the first to exhaustively analyze the effect of this type of treatment on an extensive panel of

.

To do this, volunteers with normal weight were included and 79 overweight and obese patients were recruited, who were randomly assigned to three intervention groups: very low-calorie ketogenic diet, hypocaloric diet, and bariatric surgery.

The research confirms that patients undergoing different weight loss interventions experience differential changes in the levels of circulating cytokines and biomarkers of oxidative stress.

This effect is always

than in those who follow a conventional low-calorie diet or undergo bariatric surgery.

occurs

.

The changes produced after the diet mainly occur in

such as IL-11, IL-12, IL-2, INF and INF-, Pentraxin-3 or MMP1, which, after weight loss with this intervention, reach

to those observed in people with

.

"With respect to bariatric surgery, the most important difference is the production of ketone bodies," explains Crujeiras.

The impact on oxidative stress markers is more notable in the acute phase of the intervention, since it correlates positively with the higher concentration of circulating ketone bodies.

According to the CiberOBN researcher, "this intervention could increase

, that is, the adaptive response that occurs after an increase in mitochondrial activity together with an increase in the production of reactive oxygen species, increasing antioxidant capacity, health metabolism and life expectancy.

Easy to follow strategy, under medical supervision

Ana Belén Crujeiras assures that it is an easy strategy to follow in clinical practice because the benefits in body weight are greater than with the standard hypocaloric diet,

_

Bariatric surgery is not accessible to everyone: the BMI must be greater than 35-40 and it is an invasive intervention.

In any case, the researcher emphasizes a clarification: "

over the consumption of fats and proteins. This is a medical procedure that must be indicated and guided by a specialist.

She also takes the opportunity to insist on an old demand: the

of obesity treatments.

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