Would you really want be to the hamster subjected to medical research and studies? If your answer is no, then maybe you should rethink trying those fad-diets, which are, in reality, the outcome of some medical research carried out in order to combat a certain disease. Interestingly, these days the most popular diet regimes are dominantly low-carb in nature. As I had previously talked about Atkins diet, wherein your meals are literally devoid of carbohydrates and are mostly fats and primarily protein. Apparently, the diet was an aftermath of the American cardiologist Dr. Robert Atkins' desperate efforts to solve his own overweight condition. Another addition, rather a sequel to the Atkins' diet is the Ketogenic diet - let's take a deeper look into it.
The GenesisSurprisingly, the Ketogenic diet had its genesis in epileptic seizures. Had it not been Dr. Henry Rawle Geyelin's research on ways to treat epileptic seizures, the diet would have probably never come into existence. Dr. Geyelin studied the considerable reduction in epileptic seizures and fits in his patients, when they underwent a fasting period. He then realized that low carb intake leading to plummeting blood glucose and increased fat metabolites, were key to managing seizures better. In addition to tackling the condition, the diet also led to weight loss - hence, the proposition of the diet.
According to Dr. Ritika Sammadar, Nutritionist at Max Health Care in New Delhi, "We do follow the Ketogenic diet in hospitals with respect to those suffering from epilepsy. It helps remarkably in tackling seizures. However, in my opinion, it is absolutely impossible for non-patients to undertake the diet. Not only is it difficult to follow, it may also have severe health implications and repercussions."
How does it work
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The Bottom Line - Should you or Should You Not?The diet has faced much criticism lately for its sole purpose of being a weight-loss agent. However, the combination of low glucose and high ketones production in the body - triggered by the diet - has been widely embraced by the medical world for further studies. Reportedly, the switch from glucose to ketos (fat metabolites) as an alternative source of energy not only helps in epilepsy but in tackling many other ailments. Some of the most recent studies suggests that as the body gets deprived of its primary source of energy and the metabolism alters itself, it results in the slowing of or at times stunting the growth of tumours as well as cancerous cells which traditionally require glucose to survive, sustain and multiply.
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