A study from UT Health San Antonio suggests that a long-term ketogenic diet can cause cellular aging in organs such as the heart and kidneys, and that intermittent breaks are necessary to avoid these effects.
Long-term ketogenic dieting can lead to cellular aging in vital organs, but intermittent keto dieting with regular breaks can help prevent these negative effects.
Strict “keto-friendly” diets are popular for weight loss and diabetes treatment, but depending on the diet and the individual, they may not always be so friendly.
A new study finds that long-term ketogenic dieting can induce cellular senescence, or old cells, in healthy tissues, which can affect heart and kidney function, among other things. However, keto holidays or scheduled breaks from the ketogenic diet did not result in the pro-inflammatory effects of senescent cells, according to the study led by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio).
The findings have important clinical implications, suggesting that the beneficial effects of the ketogenic diet may be enhanced by planned breaks.
“To put this in perspective, we’re saying that there are 13 million Americans on a ketogenic diet who need to stop this diet or there could be long-term consequences,” said David Jouss, MD, associate dean for research and professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long College of Medicine at the University of Texas at San Antonio and associate cancer director for translational research at the university’s Mays Cancer Center.
He is lead author of a new study published May 17 in the journal Neurology, entitled “Ketogenic diet induces p53-dependent cellular senescence in multiple organs.” Scientific advancesAdditional authors are from UT Health San Antonio’s Department of Radiation Oncology, Mays Cancer Center, Sam Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Research, Center for Precision Medicine, School of Nursing, Department of Nephrology in the School of Medicine, Houston Methodist Cancer Center and Houston Methodist Research Institute.
Too much of a good thing is bad
The ketogenic diet, better known as keto-friendly, is a high-fat, low-carb diet that leads to the production of ketones, a type of chemical produced when the liver breaks down fat. Although the ketogenic diet is popular for improving certain health conditions and weight loss, it has also been reported to have pro-inflammatory effects.
A new study shows that mice fed two different ketogenic diets at different ages induced cellular senescence in multiple organs, including the heart and kidneys. However, this cellular senescence was eliminated by senolytics, a type of small molecule that can destroy senescent cells, and was prevented by following an intermittent ketogenic diet regimen.
“Because cellular senescence has been implicated in the pathology of organ disease, our findings have important clinical implications for understanding the use of the ketogenic diet,” Gius said. “As with any nutritional intervention, there is a need to ‘break the ketogenic diet.'”
Reference: “Ketogenic diet induces p53-dependent cellular senescence in multiple organs” Sung-Jen Wei, Joseph R. Schell, E. Sandra Chocron, Mahboubeh Varmazyad, Guogang Xu, Wan Hsi Chen, Gloria M. Martinez, Felix F. Dong, Prethish Sreenivas, Rolando Trevino Jr., Haiyan Jiang, Yan Du, Afaf Saliba, Wei Qian, Brandon Lorenzana, Alia Nazarullah, Jenny Chang, Kumar Sharma, Erin Munkácsy, Nobuo Horikoshi, David Gius, May 17, 2024, Scientific advances.
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ado1463
UT Health San Antonio is the largest academic and research institution in South Texas with an annual research portfolio of $413 million.
