The ketogenic diet or keto diet is the diet that contains low carbs. It is the program under which you try to get the required calories from fats and protein rather than from carbohydrates. You cut off easily digestible carbs from your diet, like soda, sugar, white bread, and pastries. Remember that the ketogenic diet is a short-term program, and you cannot continue it for a longer period of time. Since this diet does not convey ample health benefits, you may face health issues if you continue it for an extended period. The carbohydrates you take are converted into glucose and enter into your bloodstream to provide energy to your body needed to perform its functions. The extra carbs are converted into glycogen which is stored in your body for future use. The excessive stock of this glycogen in your body results in obesity, and in severe cases may lead to diabetes. When you eat fewer carbs, your body uses the stored glycogen to convert it into glucose and get energy.
Within three to four days you run out of your glycogen stock, and then your body starts to consume protein and fats to get energy by breaking these two. This process is called ketosis. This diet is usually used for trimming your mass. Besides this, it can help to manage your medical conditions like epilepsy. It may help to ameliorate brain disorders, heart problems, and acne. Do consult your doctor before starting a ketogenic diet, in case you are suffering from type-1 diabetes. This diet is more effective in losing weight than any other diet. The reason is that more calories are consumed to convert fats into energy whereas carbs use fewer calories in changing themselves into energy. Since more calories are used in changing carbs into energy, your body is left with lesser calories, it results in weight-loss. The other reason for weight-loss is that this diet satisfies you more and you eat less. Insulin is a hormone that converts your sugar intake into energy and stores extra sugar as a reserve. Since a ketogenic diet burns quickly, it requires less insulin, resultantly, your body produces less insulin.
The lower level of insulin may help to ward off some cancers or slow down the growth of cancer cells in the body. But, more research is required to prove this theory. Apparently, it looks that a diet that is rich in fats will raise your cholesterol level, but it is not true, else this diet raises your good cholesterol (HDL) and lowers bad cholesterol (LDL). It is so because while using this diet your body produces less insulin and your body does not produce much cholesterol. As a result, you are less prone to blocked and hardened arteries, high blood pressure, heart failure, and other heart-related disorders. But, it is not clear how long these effects will last. Carbohydrates are a possible cause of acne. Since a ketogenic diet is devoid of carbohydrates, it can lower the risk of acne. Production of less insulin as a result of this diet results in stopping eruptions of acne.
But, still, more research is required to testify this fact. Carbohydrates are converted into sugar - more carbohydrates mean more sugar which may cause diabetes. Since in a ketogenic diet you use fewer carbs, you may lower the risk of diabetes or can manage your diabetes properly. But, burning fats for energy produces a compound known as ketones. Too many ketones in your blood may sicken you if you are suffering from type 1 diabetes. So, do consult your doctor before going to a ketogenic diet. Ketogenic diet positively affects your spine, brain and the nerves linking your nervous system. These diets may help to manage your Epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and sleep disorders. Scientists are not sure why it is so. The apparent reason is that ketones produced during the use of this diet help to protect your brain cells from damage. Polycystic ovary syndrome is a condition where ovaries in women become larger than normal, and small sacs around the eggs are filled with fluid. High levels of insulin may cause polycystic ovary syndrome. Since the ketogenic diet lowers down the production of insulin, this may help to treat this disorder effectively, if combined with lifestyle changes, weight loss therapies, and exercise. Side effects of the ketogenic diet are not serious and manageable; you may have constipation, indigestion or low blood sugar. In rare cases, a low-carb diet may lead to an increased level of acid (acidosis), and kidney stones. Other side-effects may include headache, irritability, weakness, fatigue and bad breath. When your body consumes all of your stored fats, it may badly affect your kidneys. If you are obese, switching between ketogenic and normal diet may be tricky. You may lead to health issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart-related disorders. Therefore, you must be extra careful while changing a diet, change progressively and not abruptly, and take your doctor's guidance.
Blood tests were taken at baseline, 10, and 24 weeks after a 12 hour fast. Serum total and free testosterone were measured by immunoassay and equilibrium ultrafiltration; insulin by chemiluminescent immunometric assay. A self-administered PCOS-specific questionnaire was completed by each subject during baseline and during each follow-up visit in order to monitor for changes in subjective symptoms related to PCOS. The PCOS-Q includes 25 items from five health related quality of life domains: emotions (7 items), hair growth (5 items), body weight (5 items), infertility (5 items), and menstruation (4 items). Each item is rated on a seven-point scale in which a score of 7 indicates no problems or difficulties and a 1 indicates maximum impairment on that item. The mean score of all items in a domain provides a domain score for each subject. Because this pilot study used a "pre-post" design and the comparison of interest was the percent change from baseline to 24 weeks, a two-tailed paired t test was used to test for statistical significance of outcome variables. A p value of ≤ 0.05 was used for statistical significance.
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