Low-carb and ketogenic diets: I explain it in common language.

In a perfect environment, diseases would not exist, but that is not the case. So, there are discussions within the scientific communities about what is best for health. Unfortunately, there is bias in these criteria based on the benefits that certain scientists obtain based on their criteria. On the one hand, the big pharmaceutical companies, the governments also incredibly influence these criteria and the media join the misinformation campaigns full of deception. In this context, what we eat makes us who we are, and we can say that we eat physical food but we also eat, so to speak, knowledge, so knowing the why of things can help us make decisions.

I live in a place where you cannot eat what you want, rather you can eat what you can, which means that the health of many is affected by it. On the other hand, nutritional information is very poor and nutritional strategies cannot be established based on the almost non-existent availability of healthy or appropriate foods. This has caused us to have to look for all the possible information about nutrition and metabolism.

For some time now, eating habits have changed, generating a trend towards the consumption of HYPERCALORIC diets rich in CARBOHYDRATES, the prevalence of OBESITY has increased and with it the morbidity and mortality due to CARDIOVASCULAR diseases and an increase in the incidence (appearance of new cases) of DIABETES MELLITUS or some degree of ALTERED FASTING GLYCEMIA or ALTERED ORAL GLUCOSE TOLERANCE (PREDIABETIC states).

Based on these findings, we have reviewed the literature and found information on ketogenic diets, where the scheme of greater proportionality of carbohydrates in relation to fats is abandoned.

In the case of Diabetes Mellitus specifically, the alteration is related to hexose-type carbohydrates (6-carbon ring) such as glucose and fundamentally associated with central (abdominal) obesity. The issue is related to the insulin receptors in fat cells that increase in size due to the energy reserve in the form of fat. So the question would be how can we get a higher fat diet if obesity is related to fat? Obesity is related to fat as a form of energy storage, not to fat intake.

Simple model:

1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 kcalories 1 gram of fat = 9 kcalories 1 gram of protein = 4 kcalories

Carbohydrates provide fewer kcal, but it is very easy to obtain it, therefore it is easier to store it if it is not used, so it begins to accumulate in the form of endogenous fat. Fats provide more calories, but a lot of energy is used to obtain it, so very little is stored in the form of endogenous fat, reducing body weight. In addition, with a high fat diet, the emptying of the digestive system is slower and the person feels less appetite. Ketone production as a product of fat breakdown is perfectly tolerated as the diet is low in carbohydrates, not carbohydrate-free.

Animal fat as part of the diets compared to refined vegetable fats will be part of another analysis.