As Silicon Valley trendsetters, famous actors, and online health sites tout the low-carbohydrate, high-fat ketogenic, or keto diet, scientists are working to study it — from how it impacts inflammation in the brain to its effects on weight and heart health, as well as any other potential health risks.
Among the researchers studying the diet’s effectiveness and safety are Ethan Weiss, M.D., and Raymond Swanson, M.D., two University of California San Francisco physician-scientists who have studied different aspects of the ketogenic diet.
The ketogenic diet tries to bring carbohydrates down to less than 5 percent of a person’s daily caloric intake — which means eliminating most grains, fruit, starchy vegetables, legumes and sweets. Instead, it replaces those calories with fat. That fat is turned into ketone bodies, which are an alternative energy source: besides glucose derived from carbohydrates, ketones from fat are the only fuel the brain can use.
Weiss and Swanson helped break down the keto diet.
“If we’re going to make a claim, let’s stick to the things we know,” said Weiss.