Keto-like diet & heart disease

Executive summary

* This post is unusually about a press release, which in turn was about a conference presentation.

* The presentation claimed that a "keto-like" diet (up to 25% carb intake) may be linked to higher risk of cardiovascular events.

* That was the first issue. The presenter (and her fellow researchers) repeatedly confirmed that they know what a keto diet is and yet they didn't study one.

* The presentation was based on the UK Biobank study, which involves over 70,000 participants. Yet only 305 people were identified as following a “keto-like” diet.

* This tiny group of participants were matched with 1,200 other participants who self-reported that they followed a 'balanced' or 'standard' diet.

* It was claimed that those following the keto-like diet had higher LDL-cholesterol and more cardiac events. Those in the keto-like diet group also had more than three times the incidence of diabetes, 2.4 times the smoking rate and nearly twice the levels of hypertension. Adjustment was claimed, but the raw data did not support this.

* There were numerous issues with the press release and its claims. A peer-reviewed paper is needed to address these. One has not yet been published.