Everyone should read this paper.
I was sent this reference by,of all people, a dietician. She works with ketogenic diets in the field of epilepsy and brain disease.
http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/v67/n8/full/ejcn2013116a.html
It's an excellent paper and not hard to read for folks not used to assessing scientific writing.
Hana
Hana - Thanks for posting the link to this study. It appears that very low carbohydrate ketogenic diets have potential therapeutic value for a wide array of diseases including epilepsy, T2D, polycystic ovary syndrome, acne, neurological diseases (Parkinsons, Alzheimers), and cancer. The more I read about low carb diets, especially in the medical literature, the more encouraged I am to follow my low carb dietary regimen.
I'm curious, however, why the authors excluded all mention of T1D.
It's mentioned in some of trhe references I think. There are many of them listed.
Hana
I'm curious, however, why the authors excluded all mention of T1D.
I imagine for a couple of reasons Terry.
First, it's a review article and I think the authors are being very careful not to overstate the results of their literature review. Compared to the amount of literature reviewed, the short conclusion section really does seem subdued.
A second related issue, reading through the review and with just a cursory look through the citations, it seems as though the emphasis is on the effects of insulin on metabolic pathways and how that relationship seems to be somehow broken in the list of condition addressed. T1 isn't necessary a problem with insulin usage as much as it as a problem with insulin production.
As long as T1s have access to exogenous issues, we can still use it effectivley, perhaps, ameliorating some of the impact of these conditions.
Definitely and interesting read.
I love that we have smart people here.
I agree about the review and FHS and Terry's fantastic comments. Thanks.
Within my circles of folks, the T2s know nothing about carb counting or low carb. From the questions I ask, they are told to a) lose weight, b) exercise and c) eat no sugar. HMMM. That was what I was told as a T1 in 1963.
To be totally comprehensive, the study should have included T1.
Thanks for posting a link to this study, Hana. I find it interesting that a ketogenic diet can be useful in the treatment of a wide range of seemingly unrelated diseases.
Although a Paleo diet may or may not be ketogenic, many are. This study makes me wonder if the premise behind the Paleo diet trend, that some of us are ill adapted to the foods we started eating after the Agricultural Revolution, may be true.
This is a very old post but I just now tripped across it. The scholarly paper referenced by the link is interesting and contains a lot of relevant data, but it lost some of its credibility for me within the first couple paragraphs. I quote:
"Very-low-carbohydrate diets or ketogenic diets . . . From the 1960s onwards [have] become widely known as one of the most common methods for obesity treatment. "
That date is off by about . . . a century.
It’s probably petty of me, but I kind of expect a researcher to do . . . research.