Ditch the cheat day when on keto diet

A new research has revealed that people who are on a keto diet should avoid cheating on their diet. The research, carried out by the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus, stated that just one 75-gram dose of glucose- equivalent to a large bottle of soda or a plate of fries- while on high fat, low carbohydrate diet can lead to damaged blood vessels.

"The ketogenic or keto diet has become very common for weight loss or to manage diseases like type 2 diabetes," said Jonathan Little, a senior author of the study. "It consists of eating foods rich in fats, moderate in protein, but very low in carbohydrates and it causes the body to go into a state called ketosis," he added.

Little said that the diet can be very effective because once the body is in ketosis and starved for its preferred fuel glucose, the body's chemistry changes and it begins to aggressively burn its fat stores. This leads to weight loss and can reverse the symptoms of diseases like Type 2 diabetes.

"We were interested in finding out what happens to the body's physiology once a dose of glucose is reintroduced," said Cody Durrer, the study's first author. "Since impaired glucose tolerance and spikes in blood sugar levels are known to be associated with an increased risk in cardiovascular disease, it made sense to look at what was happening in the blood vessels after a sugar hit," Durrer added.

For their test, the researchers recruited nine healthy young males and had them consume a 75-gram glucose drink before and after a seven-day high fat, low carbohydrate diet. The diet consisted of 70 per cent fat, 10 per cent carbohydrates and 20 per cent protein, similar to that of a modern ketogenic diet.

"We were originally looking for things like an inflammatory response or reduced tolerance to blood glucose. What we found instead were biomarkers in the blood suggesting that vessel walls were being damaged by the sudden spike in glucose," said Durrer.

According to Little, the most likely culprit for the damage is the body's own metabolic response to excess blood sugar, which causes blood vessel cells to shed and possibly die.

"Even though these were otherwise healthy young males when we looked at their blood vessel health after consuming the glucose drink, the results looked like they might have come from someone with poor cardiovascular health. It was somewhat alarming," Little added.

The researchers pointed out that with only nine individuals included in the study, more work is needed to verify their findings, but that the results should give those on a keto diet reconsider cheating.