Could a keto diet increase the risk of diabetes (if you’re a mouse)?

August 20 by in Diabetes, Health scares, Keto, New study

Is it dangerous to follow a keto diet? A new study resulted in scary headlines recently, and got plenty of attention online – perhaps a keto diet could increase the risk of diabetes?

Sky News: ‘Keto diets’ could increase diabetes risk

While new science is always welcome, what is most needed sometimes is a reality check.

In the study, researchers fed mice (!) a keto diet for three days (!), and then ran a glucose tolerance test. They noticed that while the mice on a keto diet had a lower fasting blood glucose, it got higher after the glucose tolerance test and there were signs of a reduced effect of insulin compared to mice on regular mouse chow. That’s basically it.

The result? Newspaper headlines from click-seeking journalist warning about diabetes if people (humans, presumably) eat a keto diet.

Where to start. First of all, and crucially, humans are not mice. Secondly, the short-term (three days) adaptations to a keto diet may very well reduce the tolerance to a sudden glucose load, but whether that is a bad thing (even in mice) or simply normal is an open question.

Most importantly, a number of long-term studies (over months and years) and decades of experience in actual humans show that a keto diet reverses type 2 diabetes.

I guess the question is what you want to believe in. Debatable lab findings from one three-day mouse study, or long-term studies and practical experience in humans showing reversal of type 2 diabetes. I suggest the latter.

Low-carb and keto science

Success stories on keto (diabetes success stories)

Earlier

Who is to blame for the obesity epidemic?

Why is there an obesity epidemic among Thai monks?

Low-carb

Keto for beginners: Introduction
08:02
Learn how to do a keto diet right, in part 1 of our video course.
How to eat LCHF
11:18
Dr. Eenfeldt on what you need to know to start eating a low-carb, high-fat diet.
Cereal Killers
1:00:07
What if you could – in fact – break records without eating massive amounts of carbs?
The 5 common mistakes on LCHF
09:25
Is it hard to reach your goal weight, are you hungry or do you feel bad? Make sure you're avoiding these mistakes.
What is the Main Benefit of Low Carb?
02:52
What exactly is the greatest benefit of low carb? Doctors give their top answer.
Carb-Loaded
1:14:40
This may be the best (and funniest) low-carb movie ever. At least it's a strong contender.
How to formulate a low-carb keto diet
48:32
Low-carb pioneer Dr. Eric Westman talks about how to formulate an LCHF diet, low carb for different medical conditions and common pitfalls among others.
Everything in moderation?
05:44
What’s the point of low carb, shouldn’t we all just try to eat everything in moderation? Top low-carb doctors answer this question.
A global food revolution
34:30
The mistakes behind the obesity epidemic and how we can fix them together, empowering people everywhere to revolutionize their health.
My Big Fat Diet
42:31
What would happen if an entire town of First Nation people went back to eating the way they used to? A high-fat low-carb diet based on real food?
The Cause of Obesity
38:45
What is the real cause of obesity? What causes weight gain? Dr. Jason Fung at Low Carb Vail 2016.
Does the Brain Need Carbohydrates?
05:56
Doesn’t the brain need carbohydrates? Doctors answer common questions.
Are there potential dangers with a low-carb diet?
09:30
Can a low-carb diet potentially be dangerous? And if so – how? Top low-carb doctors answer these questions.
Living low carb with Caroline Smale
07:30
Caroline Smale shares her low-carb story and how she lives low carb on a daily basis.
The latest science behind a keto diet
13:17
What is the current science in support of a low-carb and keto diet?
Why is Low Carb Important to You?
04:16
Why is low carb important to Dr. Rangan Chatterjee and Dr. Sarah Hallberg?
"I sort of wanted to save the world"
22:22
How can you give back to the low-carb community after achieving great results on the diet? Bitte Kempe-Björkman explains.
Fat Head Director's Cut
1:46:20
This movie follows stand-up comedian Tom Naughton as he tries to lose weight on a fast-food diet, to prove Morgan “Super Size Me” Spurlock wrong.

Diabetes

Carb-Loaded
1:14:40
This may be the best (and funniest) low-carb movie ever. At least it's a strong contender.
How to Reverse Diabetes Type 2
10:23
Dr. Fung's diabetes course part 1: How do you reverse your type 2 diabetes?
How to formulate a low-carb keto diet
48:32
Low-carb pioneer Dr. Eric Westman talks about how to formulate an LCHF diet, low carb for different medical conditions and common pitfalls among others.
Living low carb with Chris Hannaway
08:19
What does living low carb look like? Chris Hannaway shares his success story, takes us for a spin in the gym and orders food at the local pub.
The essential problem with type 2 diabetes
05:13
Dr. Fung's diabetes course part 2: What exactly is the essential problem of type 2 diabetes?
The perfect treatment for diabetes and weight loss
45:20
Do doctors treat type 2 diabetes completely wrong today – in a way that actually makes the disease worse?
My Big Fat Diet
42:31
What would happen if an entire town of First Nation people went back to eating the way they used to? A high-fat low-carb diet based on real food?
The problem with sugar
50:01
Is it fat or sugar that has triggered the unprecedented epidemics of obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic disease? Taubes at Low Carb USA 2017.
Therapeutic Fasting
46:09
What if there was a more effective treatment alternative for obesity and type 2 diabetes, that is both simple and free?
How to avoid complications of type 1 diabetes
37:28
Why are the recommendations to people with diabetes to eat a high-carb diet a bad idea? And what is the alternative?
"We are not designed to be chronically ill"
25:54
"I knew nothing"
28:51
How come Professor Tim Noakes completely changed his view on what constitutes a healthy diet?
Diet & diabetes – how to normalize your blood sugar
16:26
Dr. Eenfeldt's get-started course part 3: How to improve type 2 diabetes dramatically using a simple lifestyle change.
How to help patients reverse type 2 diabetes
27:43
How exactly do you as a doctor help patients reverse their type 2 diabetes?
Can low carb make it fun to be a doctor?
36:47
Dr. Unwin about getting his patients off medications and making a true difference in their lives using low carb.
Treating type 1 diabetes: fact vs fiction
32:42
Dr. Jake Kushner explains why we would be better off treating type 1 diabetic patients with a low-carb diet.
A Disease of Insulin Resistance
09:32
Part 3 of Dr. Fung's diabetes course: The core of the disease, insulin resistance, and the molecule that causes it.
"I Have Been Following the Wrong Advice!"
16:39
How Antonio Martinez finally managed to reverse his type 2 diabetes.

28 comments

Top comments

Robin
August 20 8
It would be good to know who funded such a monumental study. Three days is not long enough to see a trend in anything, let alone long-term hormonal changes. I suggest that big food and big pharma are scared at the success people are having in restoring their health and the implications this has for their bottom lines. And of course, the media is eating it up!

Read more →
Robin
August 20 6
And according to the study they fed the mice margarin and corn oil. Who on keto eats that poison?

Reply: #20

Read more →

All comments

1
Robin
August 20 8
It would be good to know who funded such a monumental study. Three days is not long enough to see a trend in anything, let alone long-term hormonal changes. I suggest that big food and big pharma are scared at the success people are having in restoring their health and the implications this has for their bottom lines. And of course, the media is eating it up!
2
Cliff
August 20 2
While I agree with most of the criticism of this study, I think stating 3 days of mouse life is not enough to elicit a satisfactory response to a keto diet may not be correct. Mice have significantly shorter lifespans than humans, and with some rough calculations assuming 1 human year is equivalent to 58 mice years shows that 3 days is ~6 months. Assuming mice metabolism operates at that increased rate may be a stretch but I think that it should be plenty of time to evaluate a response to dietary changes. The better criticism, I think, is that mice are not evolutionarily adapted to eat high fat diets and may not respond well to them in any situation. Therefore, findings in mice may not extrapolate well to humans.
3
Darlene
August 20
I can say from personal experience that the study is correct . In 2017 i started the keto diet my bs was 210 to 220 after a meal .one week on keto i had 120 to140 after a meal all was great ,felt good ,mental clarity etc.i never lost weight but was very excited about my blood glucose levels. I was on the diet for a total of 6 months. I finally got disgusted with eating all that animal fat and eating the foods and not having any carbs so I stopped the diet, wow! Big mistake. So now when I would eat even relatively low carbs and the kind of foods I was eating before I started keto my numbers would hit 400. Keto diet messed up my my diabetes even worse then I was before I started. If it sounds too good to be true it is. Did my. cholesterol go down? Yes . did my triglycerides get better? Yes. And so did my diabetes until I just couldn't need that way anymore.

Reply: #14
4
Sonika
August 20
Darlene.... I'm confused, on Keto you are not supposed to eat animal fats, only healthy fats. What am I missing here?

Replies: #13, #16
5
Robin
August 20 6
And according to the study they fed the mice margarin and corn oil. Who on keto eats that poison?

Reply: #20
6
Curllee
August 20 1
Insulin is part of the human biochemistry. Use it or lose it. As with any body part including organs the pancreas needs exercised but not abused.
7
Brit
August 20 1
People use the Keto diet as an excuse to eat meat all day 😂😂😂 You can definitely do keto without eating a bunch of animal fat. I would suggest days not eating animals at all and still be on Keto. What you should of done was increase your carb intake slowly with fruits and vegetables. Not go from 20 carbs a day to 120 carbs and not do it gradually
8
Keto For Life
August 20 3
Darlene, I have been keto for just over 10 months as a vegetarian— no animal fat whatsoever. And from your description it sounds like your real problem wasn’t keto, it was that you “started eating carbs again” and “went back to what I was eating before.” Why would you go back to eating the foods that gave you diabetes in the first place? There’s a huge variety of delicious things to eat on a keto diet that don’t require any animal fat. I eat delicious vegetables, cheesy creamy sauces, quiche, chia seed puddings with berries, real cream in my coffee, if I want something sweet I can make fantastic keto desserts with almond and coconut flour and erythritol sweetener. This is the easiest, most sustainable “diet” I have ever tried and I have tried an awful lot. I plan to eat like this for the rest of my life.
9
Costin
August 20
@Keto For Life. Do you have also diabetes too?
10
Auntnano
August 20 1
I did low carb for a year. I lost weight. I also started losing my hair and nails. My blood work was great though. I went off low carb. Now I do still mostly protien but I've added fruit strarchy veggies at times and yes occasionally bread. I now have digestive issues. My blood work is totally messed up. Also I have insulin resistance. I had none of these prior to going low carb except I needed to lose weight. I now have vitemin B,D, and other deficiencies. I take 10 vitamins (prescribed). I also take metoformin now. Though because of my digestive issues I throw it up at times. I believe if you go low carb. You have to stay low carb. If not you will have more health issues then prior. Just saying, that's my personal opinion and experience. I eat healthy and i gained weight back. I still stay away from sugar also. Sweets are a no for me.
11
Jackie
August 20
I have been doing low carb for about 4 1/2 months and was taking only 5 mg glipizide daily but my sugar was always close to 200 or over and A1C was 7 or greater and in these 4 short months my a1c is down to 5.4 glucose below 100 and I feel so much better, so you can t go back to eat high carb foods of you want to keep your glucose levels under control and as far as the high fat protein, all my cholesterol levels were awesome except the HDLs but they really were no different than what they have always been. I just need to exercise to get it under control.
12
corydory
August 20
Sonika animal fats are healthy fats. Stay away from processed oils. Auntnano, did you or do you eat enough fat? Eating too low calories can cause hair loss. With all of the problems going back to carbs, sounds like you need to go back to keto. I know I plan to eat this way for life
13
Reply to comment #4 by Sonika
Linda McDonald
August 20 1
Where on earth did you hear that we're not supposed to eat animal fats on a ketogenic diet?! Wrong!! Have you even read this site that youre commenting on at all? Ignorance causes all the trouble on this planet! Butter, cheese, cream, lard, all animal fats, ARE used on this diet Darlene!
14
Reply to comment #3 by Darlene
Linda McDonald
August 20 1
Also, forgot to mention, most on keto, will see cholesterol go UP, not down! But cholesterol is NOT a problem, sugar is! Read "Cholesterol Clarity" by Jimmy Moore.
15
Lami
August 20 1
Wrong. Doing keto for over a year and fell great. Low cholesterol no hair loss, Felling great every day. I eat animal and vegetal fat, cheese,nuts, vegetables and mct oil. I train crossfit and the first month was Hard, but after that regain strenght and power, basically i do the same without carbs. I take a range of vitamins. Lost a lot of weight in the begining but when a reach my goal i just started to eat a little bit more and stabilezed. My hair, my nails, my skin are better than ever, not even a cold in Winter. Maybe keto isnt for everyone because it needs a lot of discipline and thats the main problem. Oh i'm 49

Reply: #19
16
Reply to comment #4 by Sonika
Lami
August 20 1
What? Please inform yourself, this is Exactly what is wrong, People doping keto with no clue
1 comment removed
18
CaseyKeto2018
August 21
Interesting information. Does this dispute that eating white bleached sugar, and white bleached flower is good or not good? Potato chips more candy and junk food must be good for you too, right? Keto has done wonders for us!
19
Reply to comment #15 by Lami
Casey
August 21
Good on ya mate!
20
Reply to comment #5 by Robin
Casey
August 21
None of us do. Good on ya mate. Casey from Cally! 👍🏾
21
Ruth
August 21 1
Have been following Keto diet for 10 months, lost 27kg so far. All my blood work is fantastic, my heart physician and respiratory physician ate astounded at my health, I just turned 70. Traveling Aust in my motorhome. Best way of eating ever.
22
Thin Tim
August 21
Diet Doctor is poorly positioned to offer useful comment. Their evangelical , “four legs good , two legs bad” approach anything resembling criticism is disappointing.

I think the science is strong in support of Keto, but there is no science in this diet doctor response

Reply: #25
23
Richard
August 21 1
And you don't have to be keto, just fat adapted. Anyone who ditches the sugar, grain, and industrial grain oils and starts simply walking alot will do great because it's what our mitochondria were designed to function best with. Study mitochondria and the rest will fall into place. I pasture raise my beef and my chickens eat bugs..lots of great high Omega THREE fats to be had if they are natural. I'm 53, in the last four years went from 190 with all kinds of health issues to 145 and doing triathlons, tough mudders and dirt bike expeditions! My exercise is a one hour swim a week, a one hour easy cycle and 3-5 hours hiking with my dog! That's it...eating IS 80% of your health...
24
Antwynette
August 21 1
I did keto off and on for almost a year. Even when I wasn't really eating keto, I was still consuming a large amount of cheese, meat and eggs.

I noticed month after month I began to have more and more pain. Primarily in my legs but all over really. I couldn't figure out why. My mother did keto as well but not as long as I did and she is fine.

I began having so much trouble walking and literally began dragging my leg. I went from a cane, to a walker with a seat, to a power scooter in 6 months. I was absolutely terrified and doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. No lie, I can barely walk most days now.

I'm now in the process of detoxing my body. I'm trying to get my body back to normal. I'm taking pro and prebiotics and slowly feeling a little better.

Keto is the only link to my health declining. I can't explain it but something went terribly wrong in my body while I was on keto. I've heard nothing but good things about it and at first, I felt wonderful.

I can barely stand now. I'm 42 years old. Keto is definitely not safe for everyone. For some reason, it sent my body into shock.

Reply: #26
25
Reply to comment #22 by Thin Tim
Gentiann
August 21
What do you mean by "there is no science" in DietDoctor answer? Did you miss the link to the studies ?
26
Reply to comment #24 by Antwynette
Gentiann
August 21 1
This is strange!
People with fibromyalgia report feeling better while on a keto diet.
Your post mentions eating "large amount of meat, cheese and eggs" and I suspect that it is just another piece of sneaky vegan propaganda designed to scare people away from keto diets.
By the way, many have found that eating certain plants was in fact the trigger to their fibromyalgia flare up.
27
Tony
August 22
I have been following meal plans on diet doctor for 17 wks have lost 28lbs my blood sugars went from 16.2 down to 4.7 my blood pressure is normal now and I’ve been taken of blood pressure meds. I have had no loss of hair or nails or strength or stamina I stick to the amounts given and occasionally have an off day were I eat what I want to. To be honest I just feel that white breads and cakes don’t do it for me anymore I feel healthier following diet doctors meal plans than I have for years.
P.S I’m 57 and told my doctor what I’m doing and he advocates it wholeheartedly. If at anytime in the future anything changes I will simply introduce more of a low carb maintenance diet plan into my life.
28
Suska
August 22
Do you any of you remember the ONE holy commandment of Keto diet? FASTING FASTING FASTING....I can see Darlene is a 100% vegan troll....These type of fake comments are everywhere in keto community....
29
Tony
August 23
I fast 14 hrs every day except 2 when I fast for 2 24 hr periods so I haven’t forgotten the 5&2 principal