Does a Ketogenic Diet Help Diabetes or Make It Worse?

Keto diets put to the test for diabetes reversal.

I tried to think of all the ways to describe it. If you can think of a better metaphor, please let me know!

This was the final video in my 7-part keto series. Be sure to catch up on the rest if you missed any:

What can we do about diabetes? Here are a few videos to get you started:

Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

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Image credit: Quinn Dombrowski / flickr

#ketodiet #keto #drgreger

[RedPillVegan]

_”That’s like Faith healing someone out of a wheelchair by making them lie in bed for the rest of their lives”_

Savage

[whitewidow]

Yep, my cousin has diabetes and was on keto diet for 6 months and didn't need any more medication saying that it reserved it. Well he did a glucose tolerance test and it was way worse than before when was not on the keto diet. He got pretty sad after that.

[Truth_Seeker]

Rubbish. I’ve been on Keto for just a few months, reversed my type two diabetes and I am no longer taking insulin or medication, my A1C went from 9 to 5.7 and my blood sugar is always between 70-85. Funny how all of the critical comments of this video are hidden under the “newest” filter while all the bot comments are the first shown hahaha.

[tpowell]

I was a Vegan for several years, through time I found myself constantly hungry, I was eating all day long chasing my hunger, gaining weight, getting depressed, I began to realize that all the fruit smoothies, pastas, rice, oatmeal, breads, cereals, potatoes and the vegan processed "meats" which were the mainstay of my diet (coupled with the veggies) were making my insulin go through the roof, and causing havoc on my system metabolically. When I switched to a keto diet which is high fat, medium protein meats, eggs and seafoods coupled with the veggies, and lower carb fruit-like the berries my whole world changed, my hunger ended, I lost 25 pnds in six weeks, I feel amazing, and would not go back to high carb grains, starches and fruit for anything.

[brocklee]

I did the Keto diet for 7 months. I lost 50 lbs. I thought it was incredible at first! I felt lean and the compliments kept me going.

Trouble in paradise started when I had a minor operation. My blood had trouble clotting! I small procedure turned into a very painful hematoma because I was Vitamin K deficient for the past 7 months despite supplementing!

I started having chest pains and knew my heart was getting to its limit with all the animal protein and fat. Months of fearing bananas but embracing butter in my coffee was taking its toll.

Then I noticed that as I tried to transition off, I would get severe headaches when I ate a more carb heavy diet. I knew I had done something to my body that was not healthy.

My body was able to start processing carbs normally after a transition period of a couple months. I am glad I stopped when I did (better sooner). I hope others stop this unhealthy diet and move to a healthier alternative before it’s too late.

[mightykarma]

My mother definitely lost 25kg and reversed her type 2 diabetes. She has done the hard work, and enjoys high carbs here and there but has found Keto food to be way more fulfilling. Yes her blood sugar level rockets because she was sensitive, but that was only at the start of reintroducing carbs - people would rather tare it down than believe a human will adapt to it's conditions. High BGL should not be the aim, and using it as the argument is far from Keto and just stupid.

[relaxgood]

When I listen to some of the people here on You Tube talking about how good Keto is I feel like I am watching the Walking Dead.

[kcgirl]

🤯🤯🤯🤯Every day I feel like their is conflicting information. It's exhausting, but I appreciate learning something new!!

[bluellamaslearnbeyondthele]

Look up all the 2012 + articles in the citation list you provided. The most recent articles provide evidence in favor of a ketogenic diet. In particular Hussain et al. (2012) shows better outcomes of the ketogenic diet for patients with type II diabetes than calorie restriction. Hallberg et al's (2018) study is the same. All the blood assays show very strong response to a ketogenic diet and improved outcomes. Both these studies have decent sample sizes +300 patients with good control populations on which to compare research outcomes,


The video rests much of its thesis on the results of Perry et al. 2017. That study shows that binging on a high fat food generates negative impacts on glucose sensitivity. The methods of this paper are limited - only 15 participants - all of whom are healthy and do not have type II diabetes. However, if the paper is read critically there is also a major flaw in how this video interprets the Perry et al study. Simply click on their Table 1 data to see the composition of the so called "high fat: diet fed to patients as the treatment. Indeed, it has a lot of fat (440 g worth and nearly 6000 cal). It also had an incredible amount of carbs - 192 g. That is 4 x the daily carb allowance of a low carb diet and 8 x the allowance of a keto genic diet. Obviously the outcome of the study could be just as readily (and mechanistically more likely) ascribed to the massive carb intake with the treatment as it could to the fat in the diet. So the thesis espoused in this video has problems.


Regarding the esteemed MD and star of the show, nobody should listen to what Greger has to say.

[lanceevans]

This video seems to be the "missing link" in the rabid discussions on LF vs HF diets in relation to diabetes. This should not be a 4 year old video. It should be front and center.

[megavegan]

The Keto quacks will start making "The Methylglyoxal Myth" videos in 3-2-1...

[LevelUpWellness]

Used to believe this whole carbs make you fat thing, but now I eat as many whole food carbs as I want and look and feel better than ever! 🙏🏼😄

[FKBUSH]

I think this happened to my neighbor... She went on the Atkins diet for a while. Soon after she was a diabetic and put on 2 insulins. I always felt that it had something to do with it.

[MikeEnRegalia]

The fallacy in this video (series) is the assumption that a high carb diet is “normal “. What if the default human diet is high fat? In that case it would be non-sensical to expect “cured” T2 diabetics to ever quit the keto diet.

[Rene-uzeb]

I can say that when I first started to add carbs back, I would notice diabetes symptoms immediately via dry mouth and excessive urination. It would go away if I worked out that day. A few weeks in and the symptoms are mostly gone even when not working out

[soonilchoi]

I don't understand what you are speaking about. I am on Keto for 2 years. i do not just believe my blood sugar level. My mind ability, asthma, body energy are all much better than before. i also eat some rice but not like others. But if the amount of the carb goes too much, my all condition goes bad. So I keep the amount of rice low and no wheat at all. Wheat makea my body muc worse. I lost 44 pounds and I am happy now.

[ThyroidVsKeto]

Indeed it does. I was Pre-diabetic and given 6 months before going on metformin when my GP suggested keto. 6 years and healthiest I have ever been. Finally, I realised being constantly drowsy DIDN'T HAVE TO BE THE NORM!!!

[RachelledelaRosa]

This is an important series, hopefully a lot of people will watch it

[vitaminb]

Eric Berg pretends he never saw this video.

[chrisdias]

I was told by my dr I needed to go on insulin as I had type 2 diabetes (6 years) I said no and started a low carb diet. Within a month by blood glucose was down to normal levels. After 3 months my HBA1C was below the diabetic threshold. I’m off my statins & off my blood pressure tablets (ramilpil) and lost 3 stones. I recommended a low carb high fat diet. My bloods have also improved HDL up ad Triglycerides down.